One More Chance
by redroseadmirer
Summary: 'I hope you'll give me one more chance like you did then. –A.'
1. Chapter 1: Part One

Start of Something New

"Criminey! Where is that little…"

"Right here, Helga!" Helga G. Pataki peers from behind her maroon locker to see a smiling Lila Sawyer waiting behind it. The redhead still maintained several aspects of her appearance since grade school; her long hair was waved into two braids. She was wearing a green hoodie and a pair of skinny jeans, finished with a pair of green flats. Naturally, Lila Sawyer was still one of the prettiest girls in P.S. 121's senior class, outshining most students. Although Helga had matured and grew nicer over the years, Lila's personality remained the same as well; friendly, funny, and helpful. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Lila was the perfect girl for the role of assistant editor of P.S. 121's newspaper. She did anything Helga asked, her work was decent, and she had connections around the high school.

"Where have you been, Sawyer? I need that article before the end of the day to run for tomorrow's issue and it's almost the start of seventh period!"

"I have it right here. I'm oh so certain you have nothing to worry about, boss." Lila winked at her.

"I better not." Helga quickly scanned the article, considering it was about to be the headline story of the October issue. It was an interview conducted with the senior class president, nobody other than, Rhonda Lloyd. When elections were conducted in September, Helga helped Phoebe campaign for senior class president, but even she knew that Princess had the election locked in. Rhonda was the most prettiest and popular girl in school, and she had a ridiculous reputation for throwing the best parties. However, after she narrowly beat Phoebe in the election, she proved her worth by fulfilling her promise to make our senior year the best it can be. Although Helga would admit it, Rhonda knew politics, and she was handling her position with ease. Phoebe Heyedral, her best friend, was obviously a great candidate, but she wasn't aggressive like Rhonda was. Either way, Lila's assignment was to conduct an interview with Princess discussing plans for this year for the senior class like prom. Helga was surprised with Lila's article; she quoted Rhonda correctly and thoroughly discussed the pros and cons to each plan. Lila was improving, and Helga wasn't too happy about it.

"I must say. It's impressive, Sawyer. Well done." Helga couldn't believe what she was saying. She was complimenting Lila Sawyer's article! Lila was her mortal enemy in elementary school, and Helga G. Pataki never dished out encouragement, especially to a girl she used to hate. Helga came to learn that over the years however, that you can't hate a girl for doing nothing to you. Besides, she didn't actually have a crush on her beloved; he had a crush on her. Throughout elementary and middle school, Helga continued to harbor hate on Lila Sawyer, until she had an English class freshmen year of high school with the angel herself. Now, Helga considered Lila one of her dearest friends, and someone she could trust and boss around.

"Why thank you ever so much, Helga! It means so much that you approve." Lila giggled, reaching out and taking the article back from Helga. "Will I see you at the meeting after school? Or do you need me to take over again?"

Yesterday, Helga was unable to attend the daily newspaper meeting because she had to attend a homecoming committee meeting. Of course, Helga would never even consider spending hours throwing up decorations for a school dance, but Phoebe insisted on both of them signing up. Phoebe was consistently busy with student council, National Honor Society, and the school scholastic decathlon team, and Helga had to run the newspaper and play softball. Since it was their senior year, Phoebe was determined to have at least one school activity with her best friend before they graduated high school in the spring.

"Lila. Of course I'm coming to the meeting. Can't have the meeting without the editor in chief the day before the next issue comes out." Lila frowned at Helga's response, and Helga sighed. "But I do appreciate you covering for me."

Lila grinned. "There you go, Helga. You are doing so well. I think those meetings with Dr. Bliss and those anger management classes really have helped."

Helga forced a smile back at Lila, but was hoping that Lila wouldn't reveal out loud at school that she was seeking treatment. Once Helga entered her freshmen year in high school, she realized that she wanted to change. Although she did want to change for herself, she was also hoping the change would win over the heart of the boy she had been in love with since she was three years old. Arnold. Arnold whatever his last name was. With the support of Phoebe and Lila, Helga continued to see Dr. Bliss for regular therapy sessions and began taking an anger management class. Both truly did help Helga channel her anger and use her aggressive and strong personality into other activities like the newspaper and softball, two of her passions.

However, the change also altered the relationship she had with Arnold. She no longer called him names, bullied him, or followed him around. You could say in a way that she fell out of love with Arnold. The old Helga was in love with a boy that wasn't in love with her, so she moved on in her own way. She threw away the bubble gum shrines, packed up the diaries full of poems, and locked up the locket with Arnold's picture in it. Helga of course maintained a friendship with Arnold; she had a few classes and lunch with him, and they hung out outside of school a few times a week. But that's all they were. Friends.

At first, Helga was heartbroken; hurt that the boy she loved didn't feel the same way, especially since the FTi incident in the fourth grade. Arnold never mentioned the incident again, so she assumed that he didn't "like her like her." Of course, she continued to secretly stalk from a distance throughout the middle school years, but high school had changed Helga G. Pataki permanently. She was no longer in love with Arnold, and no longer the angry, mean girl she was in grade school. She was a high school senior at P.S. 121, editor in chief of the school newspaper, and captain of the softball team. Helga had her own life and future to worry about, without Arnold in it.

"Thanks, Sawyer, but could you keep it down a little? I don't want anyone to find out."

Lila put her hand on Helga's shoulder. "No one is going to find out. Only Phoebe and I know, and trust me, no one here is going to care especially since you've changed for the better. I promise."

"I know, I know." Helga shrugged out of Lila's touch and glanced in the mirror to check her makeup for a second. Helga's personality wasn't the only part of her that changed when she came to high school; her appearance did too. Helga continued to sport her favorite color, pink, but started wearing more girly and fashionable clothes. She waxed her uni-brow into two even eyebrows, started wearing makeup like foundation and eyeliner, and kept a clear lip-gloss in her backpack. Her long, wavy blonde hair now sat past her shoulders, bouncing as she walked, with her pink ribbon wrapped in a bow around her head. Of course, her new appearance did catch the attention of most of her classmates, including boys. Helga gained new friends and a reputation of her own as a nice, headstrong girl. With her new confidence, Helga at times seemed to forget about her past as the old Helga and fully embraced her future as the new Helga.

"Well, I guess I'll see you after school then. Seventh period's about to start." Lila turned to leave, but then turned back around. "You are coming to the sleepover at Rhonda's tonight, right?"

Every Thursday, all the girls of the elementary school gang had a sleepover at Princess's house. Even though they were all seniors in high school with different peer groups and activities, the whole gang was still as close as ever, all sharing a lunch table at lunch and hanging out together outside of school. Helga admired everyone in the gang for that, because they were all still good friends.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure Princess wouldn't let me skip it even if I wanted to. I'll see you later." Helga closed her locker and watched as Lila waved and disappeared down the hallway. Glancing at her watch, Helga began to run as she discovered there was only one minute until her seventh period began. She couldn't be tardy again, especially since if she had one more tardy, she would have to go to detention. That was one place that even Helga G. Pataki could not even face.


	2. Chapter 1: Part Two

"Okay. Where is the football head? He still hasn't submitted his column for this issue yet." Helga asked Lila, who was finishing putting together the newspaper with the rest of the staff at the meeting after school.

"Helga, he's at baseball practice, and he told me that he would bring the column here after. I'm oh too certain that he'll be here soon." Lila assured, placing the horoscopes next to the school events calendar.

"So let me get this straight. I have to wait around for the football head to finish his baseball practice so he can give me his column piece that he could have given me earlier today?"

"It will be okay, Helga. He probably just forgot. I'm ever so sure he is on his way right now." _'Oh, Arnold. Please be on your way…' _Lila thought to herself as she continued to arrange the pieces over the newspaper layout.

"No. I need it right now. I want to finish this, and I want to go home." Helga stated firmly. "I'm going to find him right now. Baseball practice or not, he's a part of this staff and he will submit his article on time like everyone else!"

Helga set her iPad down on a desk, turned, and strode out of the classroom. _'Who does Arnold think he is? Making me wait around for his column piece when I have a busy schedule! His article is late, and he is going to…'_

SLAM.

Helga ran into someone, and toppled ungracefully down on top of him or her. The person reacted by wrapping his or her arms around her, hoping to catch her before they both hit the ground, but it was too late. She landed right onto their chest, and quickly caught herself by her hands meeting the ground.

Now leaning over them, Helga slowly opened her eyes to greet the victim. "Watch where you're going! Can't you see I'm in a hurry?"

"In a hurry to find me?" The familiar voice smirked, and Helga was soon aware that the person she just clumsily fell upon was no one other than Arnold.

"Arnold!" _'Oh, shit.' _"I mean, where have you been, football head? I've been waiting for you to turn in your column piece, which I must add, is late!"

Arnold smiled and softly laughed. "Sorry, Helga. I know this is late, but I came in late this morning, and I couldn't find you at lunch. So, I left baseball practice early so I could turn this into you." His green eyes glanced over to his gym bag.

"Well, that's no excuse for making me wait around, Arnoldo. I have a life, you know. I just can't stay here forever because you have failed to come to the meeting and turn in your piece!"

Arnold's arms around Helga's waist loosened as he sighed. "I understand, Helga. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't keep making excuses. I keep letting you and the staff down, and that's not fair to all of you."

Helga's anger diminished as she listened to him explain. She slowly breathed in and out, and tried to see Arnold's side of things; it was a technique she learned in her anger management class.

"It's okay, Arnold. As long as you have your article, it's all good."

"Um, Helga?" Arnold's eyes started to wander, and his body shifted under hers.

"Yes?"

"You do realize you've been laying on me in a school hallway while we've been having this conversation, right?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Then can you please get off of me?" he smiled.

"Oh!" Helga pushed herself off of Arnold and slowly pulled herself back onto her feet. She held out a hand for Arnold to take, and helped him up as well.

"Thanks, Helga." He winked at her. "But honestly," he said as he reached down for his gym bag. "That's still no excuse for me skipping meetings for baseball and not turning in my piece until the last minute. I made a commitment to the paper, and I'm not fulfilling it."

Helga watched as Arnold unzipped his gym bag and dug around, looking for something. He pulled out a blue folder.

"Arnold, you're right." Helga agreed. "You should be more dedicated to the paper. Attending the meetings, writing the pieces, turning them in on time… But you have other commitments too and I should be more lenient on you. Plus, you did tell me you were having an off day, and I can understand that, trust me."

He opened the folder, reached for a piece of paper, and held it out to Helga.

Helga's hand brushed against Arnold's as she took the article from him. They both locked eyes for a second, and Arnold's cheeks flushed a rosy pink shade. _'Whoa…' _Arnold thought. Helga shivered as her face burned as well, but she looked down to avoid his stare. _'Did that just happen?'_ Helga questioned to herself.

"Wow, Helga. I ran up into the school as fast as I could, expecting to be yelled at, and now you're telling me I'm right? Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He chuckled.

Helga giggled as well. "I'm fine, Arnoldo. Just don't let it happen again. And show up to a meeting every once in a while, would you?"

Arnold grinned. "I guess I can miss one practice a month to be at the meetings. It won't happen again. Boss."

"Good. Well, I have a newspaper to put together for the printers tomorrow. I'll see you around, Football Head." Helga spun around to head back down the hallway, but a hand grabbed her arm.

"Helga?" Arnold gave her that look again, one of those Arnold meaningful stares.

"Yes, Arnold?" She faced him.

"See you." He winked once more, and slowly released her arm. Before leaving, Arnold adjusted the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder, and gently passed her and started walking down the hallway.

Helga shook her head as she watched Arnold approach the staircase at the end of the hallway. _'What am I going to do with that football head?'_

After that collision, Helga's head and body were a little sore, so she slowly sauntered back to the classroom. As she neared the end of the hallway, she saw Lila waiting for her.

"How's Arnold?" She snickered.

"Shut up. Let's get back to work. We got a hell of a lot of work to do." Helga shoved past Lila, and Lila continued to giggle to herself.

_'It's so obvious they're into each other… I have to bring this up to the girls. They'll definitely want to hear this…'_


	3. Chapter 1: Part Three

Helga almost had another clumsy moment when she stepped off the bus in front of her house. She quickly caught herself, but shook her head at her own klutziness. _'Since when have I become such a klutz?'_

As soon as Helga walked into her house, she could hear _I Will Always Love You_ blasting from the living room. Big Bob was home. He still hadn't got over all those soap operas he watched when he injured his back years ago and Miriam had to take his place at the Beeper Emporium. Now, he recorded them on a daily basis and watched them when he returned home after a long day at work.

"Dad?" Helga crept into the living room to find her dad lounging in his favorite chair.

"Oh, it's you, Olga. You scared for me a second."

"It's Helga, Dad. H-E-L-G-A. Helga."

"Right, right. Anyway, could you polish the trophies tonight? I want them to look good for Olga when she comes home next week."

_'Of course he would want the trophies polished for when Olga comes home next week. She won them all, and besides those pieces of metal, she's the only person he cares about…'_ Helga couldn't stand the fact that her sister Olga was the perfect and only daughter in her parents' eyes.

"I can't tonight, Bob. I'm going to my friend's house. Like I do every Thursday night."

"Whatever. I want those trophies polished this weekend, young lady."

"Okay, _Bob_." Helga snapped, and left the living room to enter the kitchen for a snack. Instead, she found her mother stacking dishes into the oven.

"Hi, honey. How was school?" She singed as she stacked a coffee mug on top of a pile of plates.

"It was just peachy, Miriam. How was your day?"

"Fine, fine. Do you know where I put my…" She looked around.

"Your glasses are in the refrigerator, Miriam. Right next to your "smoothie" collection." Helga poured her glass of milk and snagged two cookies out of the cookie jar that she baked last week with Phoebe.

"Thank you, dear." She hobbled over to the fridge, and began searching for her glasses.

Helga sighed, forgetting about her hopeless parents and how they would never notice her. But that was something she got over a long time ago, way even before her high school transformation. She regularly talked to Dr. Bliss about it, but even Dr. Bliss soon discovered that Helga's parents loved her, but couldn't see her the way they saw Olga.

After Helga trudged up the staircase and entered her bedroom, the only place she could seek privacy in this "home", she threw her backpack and purse in the corner. Lying back on the bed, she closed her eyes, running through her day in her mind.

She couldn't get the thought of colliding with Arnold out of her head. Over and over, the memory repeated in her mind. Arnold's arms wrapping around her, them laughing, him blushing as she touched his hand.

_'Wait. What am I doing? Helga, you don't love Arnold anymore. You don't love Arnold.'_ Why was she freaking out over the exchange with Arnold today? Any feelings she had for Arnold disappeared during her transformation, and she was determined for them not to return. He had consumed most of her life so far, and she wasn't going to let it happen again.

While trying to get Arnold out of her brain, Helga grabbed a piece of paper out of a binder in her book bag and headed over to her desk. She saw a letter addressed to her, and read the return address. It was from Olga all the way in Alaska. _'Criminey! Why does Olga continue to send me letters, even when I don't respond? Can't the woman take a hint?'_

She shoved the letter into a drawer along with all the other unanswered letters. Even though she loved Olga, she couldn't stand her, just because she was perfect and her parents adored her. Helga had been jealous of Olga her whole life, and upset that it wasn't her. She knew it was wrong to ignore and be mean to Olga, but she didn't know how to fix it. Maybe she should bring it up to Dr. Bliss.

Helga attempted to push Olga out of her thoughts and get down to the business she tried to start. After all, the sleepover was in a few hours and she still had to get ready. She glanced over to the piece of paper she had set down on her desk, Arnold's advice column from this month's issue. This month, someone named, "Homecoming Honey" wrote a letter to him for advice on asking someone they liked to homecoming. Helga reread what Arnold had replied.

Dear Ask Arnold,

There's a boy in my biology class that I have a crush on. He's my lab partner. We've hung out with friends a couple of times and we talk on a daily basis, but he has no idea I like him and thinks we're just friends. I really want to ask him to homecoming, but I'm afraid he'll say no because he doesn't like me that way. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Homecoming Honey

Dear Homecoming Honey,

My suggestion to you is to go ahead and ask him. If you are friends, then the likelihood that he'll say yes is very likely. Even if he does say no and doesn't feel that way about you, he still should take it as a compliment that you asked him and ask to stay friends. If that doesn't work out, perhaps you can go with friends or ask someone else. Either way, everything happens for a reason, so don't get too discouraged if things don't happen the way you want. I hope this helped and that you have fun at homecoming whoever you go with!

Sincerely,

Ask Arnold

The advice Arnold gave to her sounded exactly like Arnold. He was always giving people advice, telling them to look on the bright side, or helping them out with their problems. That's why when Arnold joined the newspaper, she knew he would be perfect for an advice column. Arnold agreed with her, and he wrote the column each month with ease.

Students loved his column; Helga received dozens of emails each week for Ask Arnold. However, it was her responsibility as editor in chief to determine which ones Arnold would answer. Arnold's reputation as a nice, funny, helpful, caring guy spread around the school, and he was one of the most popular students in their grade because of it. Helga herself loved to read his responses, and wished that she could see him respond to all of them.

Each month, when Arnold turned in his column piece to Helga for the paper, Helga secretly made a copy of it and took it home with her. In her desk, she kept a binder of all the Ask Arnold columns that he's ever written. So, she took it out again after rereading this month's column, and added it to all the others.

At first, Helga thought what she was doing was similar to what she did in elementary and middle school with the shrines, poems, and the locket. Then, she convinced herself that she was simply being professional by keeping records of all the articles her staff wrote. Except for the fact that she only kept Arnold's.

_'Just because I keep all the columns he ever wrote doesn't mean I love him. I'm just keeping them for record purposes. Maybe I'll give the collection to him as a present someday…'_

As she debated in her mind whether she was being a stalker or not, her cell phone buzzed in her back pocket. Someone was calling her. She fished the phone out of her pocket and read the caller ID. Phoebe.

"Hey, Phoebs. What's up?"

"Konichiwa, Helga." The little Japanese girl answered back. "I'm so glad you answered. Rhonda texted you, but you didn't answer, so she wanted me to call you."

"I was in the newspaper meeting and I just got home. What does she want?"

"The slumber party's a hour earlier tonight. Apparently Rhonda has some juicy gossip that she's eager to discuss."

Helga tried to hold back a laugh. "That sounds like the Princess. Well, tell her I'll be there at seven."

Phoebe squealed. "Okay. See you tonight!"

"See you." Helga hung up the phone and glanced at her alarm clock. "5:32. That gives me time to take a shower and get ready. Perfect."

Helga rose from her desk and looked in the mirror on the nearby wall. Her long, blonde, silky hair fell past her shoulders, and her pink ribbon had been pulled into a bow around her hair today. She smiled, and decided to keep this look for the slumber party tonight.

As quickly as she could, Helga threw pink pajamas, toiletries, movies, nail polish, and anything else she could think of for a slumber party in a bag. She hustled into her closet to select an outfit for tonight, and her eyes discovered a few boxes that she had snuggled into the back of the closet.

It was all of her Arnold shrines, poems, lockets, and anything else that reminded her of Arnold. She remembered packing those boxes freshmen year. Helga bent down and stroked the edge of the box, remembering those days back in the past.

_'I don't love Arnold. I don't love him. I can't love him. He doesn't love me…" _Arnold clouded Helga's thoughts as she picked out a pink, fuzzy sweater and a pair of jeans shorts to wear tonight.

_'Why do I keep thinking about Arnold? I fought so hard to forget him freshmen year and now I can't get him off my mind! I can't fall in love with him. I can't. But maybe… Just maybe... There is something between Arnold and I…'_

She hopped into the shower, and began to shampoo her blonde locks, imagining feeling Arnold's blonde cornstalk of hair.

_'It must be so soft, but yet, stiff… Why am I dreaming about Arnold's hair? Wow. I really need a girls' night.'_


	4. Chapter 2: Part One

A Night to Remember

While Helga was fascinating herself with the idea of touching Arnold's hair, Arnold was actually thinking about Helga as well, and their accident today.

_'Helga and I are just friends. That's all we've ever been, and that's all we'll ever be...' _Arnold assured to himself as he stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom. One by one, he buttoned the red, plaid shirt that he wore daily.

Arnold's appearance, like mostly everyone else, had stayed generally the same since elementary school; his sweater and his shirt that everyone had ridiculed him for because it looked like he was wearing a skirt. Now that he was 6'2 though, the shirt that once had been mistaken as a skirt fit right at his waist, underneath his sweater. He slipped on the usual green sweater over his shirt, and breathed in the fresh cotton.

"Arnold! You up here?" Gerald Johansson, Arnold's best friend, called from behind the bedroom door. Gerald and Arnold were planning on meeting up with the other boys from the elementary school gang at the arcade, since all the girls were at their weekly sleepover.

"Yeah! Come in, Gerald!" Arnold quickly adjusted the small, blue hat he always wore on top of his blonde stacks of hair and jumped onto his childhood bed. He reached for a book off his bookshelf, and pretended to be reading it as Gerald opened the door and walked in.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. Are you seriously reading that pink book of poems that we found in elementary school?"

Arnold gasped and looked down at the book cradled in his hands. He forgot about this book, and remembered back to when Gerald and him had found it on the bus, filled with love poems about him.

"Uh, well, uh, I uh… No. I was just um…" _'This looks really bad…'_ He could feel his face burn as he slammed the book shut. Arnold scrambled to find English words to describe his actions.

"You do remember who wrote that book, right?" Gerald asked, giving him a look. _'Why is he reading that?'_

_"You did this for me?"_

_ "That's right, hair-boy! I mean, criminey, what else are you supposed to do when someone who love is in trouble?"_

_ "Love?"_

_ "You heard me, pal! I love you! Love you! Who else do you think has been stalking you night and day, building shrines to you in a closet, filling volumes of books with poems about you? I love you! Arnold, I've always loved you ever since I first laid eyes on your stupid football head. And from that moment- every moment since- I've lived and dreamed for you- Dreamed of the moment I could finally tell you of my sacred feelings so I could grab you and kiss you and- oh, come here, you big lug!"_

_ Cue dramatic, movie style kiss._

Arnold remembered exactly who wrote this book of poems. Helga G. Pataki. Who else could it have been? After all, she ripped a page out of the book to prevent him from reading it, and she stated in her confession that she wrote books of poems about him. It couldn't have been anyone else but her.

_'It was just the heat of the moment. She doesn't love me. At least not anymore… And I don't love her… Right?' _Arnold skimmed the pages of the book while pondering.

"Arnold? Arnold!" Gerald shook Arnold's shoulders to attempt to bring him back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Gerald. Yeah, I remember who wrote them."

"Then why are you reading this? I thought you didn't like Helga. Even as a friend." He snatched the memoir away from Arnold to take a look for himself.

"I do like Helga. She's a good friend of mine. But that's all we are. Friends." Arnold grabbed the book back from Gerald, and slowly slipped it back onto the shelf.

"Okay… Then why do you still have that book? And what about what happened today in the hallway?"

"I didn't know I still had the book. I thought she took it back, and I guess she didn't. And how do you know about that?" His fingers trailed the spine of the novel.

Gerald curiously watched as Arnold wouldn't remove his eyes from the bookshelf. "Arnold, everyone knows about it. Lila saw you two in the hallway, she texted Rhonda, and Rhonda told everyone."

Rhonda. He should have guessed. As soon as Rhonda finds anything private out, she releases the treasure out to the entire high school on that stupid blog she owned. That gossip blog was read more by the student body than the school newspaper.

"Why did Lila tell Rhonda?" Arnold questioned as he adjusted his seat on the bed.

"Arnold, I have no idea. Look, I know you're crushing on Lila, but it seems you also got a thing for Miss Helga G. Pataki." Gerald snickered. _'It's so obvious they're into each other…'_

_ 'Lila…'_ Arnold grinned as he remembered seeing Lila in the cafeteria during lunch today. Her red braids, her green sweatshirt, her blue eyes…

"Arnold! Man, what is up with you?" Gerald rolled his eyes as Arnold snapped back out of his daydreams.

"Sorry, Gerald. I have a lot on my mind. But no, I'm not into Helga. We are just friends!"

"Whatever you say, buddy. Whatever you say." Gerald just sighed and shook his head.

"Hey, that's my line." Arnold smiled at him and finally sat up and left the bed. "So are you ready to go to the arcade or what?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask." Gerald headed toward Arnold's bedroom door and looked back toward Arnold. He was once again staring at the little pink book on his bookshelf.

_'I like Lila. I don't like Helga. Helga doesn't like me. We're just friends, we're just friends…'_ Arnold repeated the phrase over and over to himself in his head.

Maybe one day he'd actually believe it.

_'When is he going to realize that he actually likes Helga G. Pataki and that Lila will never be into him? I have the densest best friend in the whole world.' _Gerald thought to himself as he watched Arnold get lost in his daze.

"Hey, Arnold?" Gerald asked his lovey dovey friend.

"We're just friends!" Arnold shouted, turning and facing one shocked Gerald.

"I know! You and Helga are just friends, just like Phoebe and I are just friends, right?" Gerald smirked at his comment.

"Gerald… I'm being serious. Helga and I are friends, and I like Lila. I've always liked Lila. There is nothing going on between Helga G. Pataki and I." Arnold folded his arms into his chest and pouted.

"You just keep telling yourself that, Lover Boy." Gerald walked to his best friend and put his arm around his shoulder. "But one day, you are going to realize that Lila has always and never will like you, and you have an undeniable attraction to Helga. For some strange reason…"

Arnold shrugged out of Gerald's gesture. "Yeah, right! Lila's the girl for me, like she always will be. She just… She just… She just hasn't realized it yet!"

By this point, Gerald was sick of Arnold spitting out excuses after excuse about his feelings for Helga and Lila. Arnold's denseness was getting worse the older he turned, not getting better. Everyone in the entire elementary school gang knew that Arnold and Helga had a thing for each other ever since the fourth grade, and maybe even before that. The way those two were around each other was bizarre, but unique. They had a connection that no one except them could understand. Besides, Arnold was always the one who insisted that Helga was a nice, caring girl underneath, and that's why he remained being friends with her and helping her out like he assisted everyone else. Gerald never understood Arnold's relationship with Helga, and he probably never would. He just couldn't see why Arnold couldn't see what he could; that those two were perfect for each other. Complete opposites with an automatic attraction and connection.

"Arnold, I have a full pocket of change just waiting to be spent. Can we please put aside your love triangle with Helga and Lila for a while so we can have some fun?" Gerald pleaded to his best friend.

Arnold glared at Gerald, but sighed. _'Maybe Lila never will like me… And maybe… Just maybe… There is something between Helga and I…'_

"Okay, okay. Let's go." Grabbing Gerald's arm, he led him out the bedroom door and downstairs of Arnold's boarding house.

_'Wow. I really need a guys' night…' _Arnold realized as Gerald and him strolled through the hallways of his childhood home.


	5. Chapter 2: Part Two

"Do tell more…" Rhonda Lloyd stood in her blue and yellow kitchen with one of her closest friends, Lila Sawyer, as Lila divulged the details of Arnold and Helga's incident after school earlier that day.

"They were blushing, giggling, and whispering to each other. And the way they laid on each other! It was like they didn't want to get up!" Lila spilled, adjusting her green nightgown.

"It's so obvious they're into each other. But neither one of them wants to make the first move." Rhonda added the last cut up pieces of cucumber to the concoction she was mixing in a bowl.

"So maybe they need a little push." Lila winked at Rhonda, pouring a spice into the bowl.

"And that's where we come in. Trust me, I've seen this coming all summer. After Arnold and that one freshman, whatever her name was, finally broke up, Helga jumped at the advantage. They were together the entire summer. They still hang out like everyday." Rhonda explained, and started stirring the green, goopy gunk.

"Don't forget when Arnold joined the newspaper just to be with Helga! And when they text and take a glimpse at each other during the what, five classes they have together?" Lila agreed, her face crinkled at Rhonda's recipe.

"Exactly, dear. Arnold and Helga are into each other, and it's our duty as their friends and matchmakers to get them together. It's only right. Besides, it's senior year. It's now or never." Rhonda stabbed her spoon into the glop.

Lila's manicured finger traced the edge of the bowl. "So how are we going to do it?"

Rhonda smiled an overextended grin. "Easy. We use the blog to promote them as candidates as homecoming king and queen."

"Rhonda!" Lila began to protest, but Rhonda quickly placed her other hand over Lila's open mouth.

"I know. I've been homecoming queen for the past three years, but I'm willing to step down. Especially since Helga's a friend and I feel it's a duty as a ruler to help out… the less fortunate." Rhonda went back to her project. "Plus, there's always prom queen."

"True… but why are you willing to help out Arnold and Helga? As far as I know, you don't like Helga much, and for Arnold…" Lila pondered.

"LILA!" Rhonda dropped the wooden spoon into the used bowl. "There is no alternative motive here. I'm helping out my friends. Is that such a crime?"

"I'm oh so certain I never suggested that, Rhonda. I'm just thinking…"

"Well, stop thinking, Lila. Only listening. We will make Arnold and Helga homecoming king and queen, and they will end up together. Got it?" Rhonda pointed the spoon into Lila's face.

Lila gulped. "Okay."

"Good. Now then, I think we're finally ready to put on some facials!" Rhonda stirred the batter once more before putting the spoon down to check her cell phone. Lila could see there was a text from Sid.

"You're not texting Sid again, are you? You know Harold is getting ever so suspicious lately…" Lila leaned over the counter for a closer look.

Rhonda quickly texted back a response before setting her phone back down on the counter. "Harold doesn't know anything. There is nothing going on between Sid and I, remember?" She turned her head to stare down at the facial mix.

"I remember, but…"

Rhonda finally met Lila's concerned eyes. "Just like there's nothing going on between you and Stinky, correct?"

Lila's eyes glared at Rhonda as she scowled. "You promised never to tell about Stinky and I. It was just one night."

"And it will stay that way as long as you forget about Sid and I. I believe we just made an agreement, Lila. Miss Ever So Perfect. Or am I suddenly recalling that you weren't ever so perfect one night at one of my summer parties with Stinky… I do believe my blog is always looking for fresh material…"

"You wouldn't dare." Lila growled, grabbing onto the counter for support. _'My perfect reputation means everything to me. As a friend, she should never reveal what happened. She's my friend…'_

"As long as our agreement is valid, I have no reason to. Besides, I can always scoop out fresh material, with Arnold and Helga keeping up their act…" Rhonda's cell vibrated once more.

"You're a bitch, Rhonda Lloyd." Lila commented as she turned away from the counter.

"And you're a fake, Lila Sawyer. I do hope our agreement will be kept. It is a long time until graduation… I hope you can resist Stinky for a few months…" Rhonda held the bowl of facial ingredients in her hands as she prepared to enter the living room.

"I hope you can hide from Harold for a few months too, Rhonda. I'm oh so glad we came to an understanding." Lila stroked her braid.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you. As always. Now, let's get a confession out of our obsessed friend and watch Edward and Jacob fight over Bella." Rhonda held out her arm for her to take.

"Why I would love to, Rhonda." Lila smiled and took her arm as both girls returned to the living room to join the other girls waiting for them.


	6. Chapter 2: Part Three

_ '"Opted out- but every choice has consequences. Some more than others…"_

_ "Don't start. You're gonna have to accept my choice."_

_ Jacob gazes deep into Bella's chocolate brown eyes._

_ "You can love more than one person at a time. I've seen it, with Sam, Emily, and Leah…"_

_ "I'm not a wolf, I can't imprint..."_

_ "It's not about imprinting. It's about feeling something for someone. And I know you feel something for me. I can sense how I make you feel. Physically. I make you nervous."_

_ Jacob pulls her closer into his chest as she snuggled in his arms._

_ "Jake, come on…"_

_ "Don't worry. I promised I wouldn't kiss you again till you asked."_

_ "You'll be keeping that promise a long time, Chief Jacob."_

_ Bella smiles at him, and he smiles wider back._

"Oh, just kiss him already, Bella! You know you want him!" Helga throws a handful of popcorn at the television in Rhonda's living room. The elementary school gang's girls are lying upon their sleeping bags, memorized by the movie, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, playing on the large, flat screen television. Helga and Phoebe sit next to each other, admiring Jacob and envying Bella. Nadine giggles with Lila and Rhonda, who are finishing putting on their cucumber facials. Sheena hides under her sleeping bag, secretly texting Eugene while munching on popcorn. All of the girls, covered in cucumber masks and with freshly painted toenails, watch the famous love triangle unfold on-screen.

"Sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it, Helga?" Rhonda smirks from the couch as she dips the last of the cucumber facial mixture onto Lila's temples.

"What are you suggesting, Princess?" Helga replies, turning to face Rhonda.

"I think what Rhonda is suggesting, Helga, is that the romantic complication between Jacob and Bella is similar to a situation you are having." Phoebe adds, reaching for another bite of popcorn.

"You should listen to your best friend more often." Rhonda flashes a sickly grin, and fixes Lila's braids after placing the spoon and the bowl into Nadine's hands.

Helga rolls her eyes. "Princess. Phoebe." She turns to glare at her best friend. "I do not have any "romantic complications.""

"I think every student at P.S. 121 will fail to agree with you, Helga, as well as every viewer of my blog. Have you forgotten your little "moment" with Arnold? You could practically make the front page of your own damn newspaper."

Helga laughed at Rhonda's attempt to stifle a joke. "Please. Arnold and I? That's completely ridiculous. The football head and I are just friends."

"Oh, really, Helga? I think everyone here agrees with me in that this past summer and this school year, you and Arnold have developed quite the friendship." Giggling, Rhonda nods to Nadine, who hands her a bottle of Rhonda's parents' wine.

"So I can't have a guy friend without the entire student body thinking we're dating? Rhonda, darling, if anyone knows about that, it's you." Helga's eyes follow the wine bottle.

Rhonda takes a swig of the wine and hiccups. "We're not talking about my romantic rendezvouses here, Helga. We're talking about yours. If you'd actually had any, you would know that you and Arnold are obviously into each other. You always have been actually since the fourth grade. Everyone knows about your childish crush on Arnold."

_'Why did Gerald have to tell…?' _Helga sighed to herself.

"That was in fourth grade, Princess. As in, like seven years ago? Times have changed, and so have I. I'm not the same girl I was back then. The new Helga isn't obsessed with Arnold whatever his last name is." Helga gestures to Rhonda to hand her the wine bottle.

Rhonda takes one last sip before passing the bottle to Helga. "Feelings like that don't go away, Helga. You're still into Arnold, and you always will be!"

Phoebe reached out to touch Helga's shoulder, but she pulled away. Helga growled as she pressed her lips to the bottle of wine and allowed it to escape down her throat.

"Say what you want, Rhonda. Post what you want on your stupid blog. I don't love Arnold, and I never will again."

"I beg to differ, Pataki." Rhonda slowly stood up from the couch and stumbled her way around everyone's sleeping bags to approach Helga's pink duffle bag.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Helga asked as she hastily climbed to her feet to attempt to stop Rhonda from what she was about to do.

Rhonda's hand opened and proceeded to dig through the duffle to finally find a gold piece of jewelry she was looking for.

"Aha!" Rhonda held up Helga's locket from freshmen year; Arnold's freshmen year picture fresh in it. "I knew you still had it. After Nadine saw you freshmen year with it behind a trashcan talking to yourself, I knew it would make a great blog post. I never posted about it though; I would need the full story. But you, Helga Pataki, were still in love with Arnold then, until you came back sophomore year, completely changed…" Rhonda lectured to the entire room of friends, them trying to keep their mouths closed.

You could hear the girls' sickening screams outside as a wine bottle crashed into pieces against a wall, almost hitting Rhonda Lloyd in the head. The wine trickled down, and silence snuck its way into the living room.

Rhonda could only laugh as she met the old Helga's eyes, present and alive, here in the new Helga's body.


	7. Chapter 2: Part Four

"Did you hear that?"

"It sounds like a bunch of girls screaming. What street are we on?"

"59th. Rhonda lives on this street!"

"You don't think…?"

"Rhonda! We're coming, babe!" Harold takes off down the street into dark of the night, while Arnold, Brainy, Curly, Gerald, Eugene, Sid, and Stinky watch him. The boys of the elementary school gang had just left Slausen's, the local ice cream parlor, after an adventurous evening at the arcade when they heard a series of screeches coming from down the road.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. He's got it bad." Gerald comments, taking another sip of his Yahoo soda.

"Wait a second. He's going to Rhonda's?" Curly steps out of the ice cream parlor, holding a cone of rocky road ice cream.

"Yeah. He thinks the girls were the ones yelling. They could be in trouble." Arnold explains, licking his pistachio ice cream.

"Rhonda's in trouble? I have to save her! I'm coming, my love!" Curly drops his just purchased ice cream, and sprints off in the same direction as Harold did a few moments ago.

"Wilikers. I can't believe that after all these years Curly still likes Miss Rhonda. On account of she's never liked him and she's courting Harold." Stinky adds, sucking off the remainders of his sherbet ice cream off his fingers.

"It's sad really." Sid says, and tries to hide the fact that his cell phone has been vibrating continuously for the past few minutes. He hadn't had the chance to secretly text back Rhonda yet.

Arnold was about to say something in response, but suddenly the boys were distracted by the Phantom of the Opera theme song.

"Sorry, guys. That's me." Eugene reaches into his back jean pocket.

"We know, Eugene. Your phone hasn't stopped ringing all night. Can you please put it on silent?" Arnold asks, throwing his cone away in the trash can near the entrance of Slausen's.

"I will, I will. It's just Sheena." Eugene opens his phone to read the text message. "Oh my god."

"What?" Sid questions, leaning over Eugene's shoulder.

"Sheena says to come right away. There's a fight going on at Rhonda's house." Eugene turns his cell on silent finally.

"Wait, wait, wait. There's a girl fight going on at Rhonda's? This I have to see." Gerald throws away his Yahoo soda bottle, and begins to walk down the shadowy, short street ahead.

"Who's fighting?" Arnold starts to follow Gerald and glances back at Eugene.

Eugene sighs and saunters slowly behind Arnold. "I'm not sure. But we better head there right away. Sheena sounds upset." Unfortunately for Eugene, he did not see the telephone pole that Arnold just dodged and ran straight into it.

"Eugene!" Sid calls, and stabilizes him by placing his hands on Eugene's shoulders. "Are you alright?"

All the boys turn to face Eugene, who simply smiles and nods. "I'm okay."

Gerald laughs, and Arnold joins in. "Good. Well, let's get to helping the girls. Who knows? This may be our one and only chance to spy in on their sleepovers they always have."

"We're not here to spy, Gerald. We're here to help. If some of the girls are fighting, we're here to break it up and allow them to continue their sleepover _alone_." Arnold states, and smirks at Gerald's grin.

The boys return to hurrying down the road to Rhonda's house as Gerald chuckles at Arnold's response.

"Don't tell me you wouldn't mind seeing Lila, Arnold?" Gerald snickers, casually bumping into him.

Arnold's face flushes into a prominent pink at the mention of Lila's name. "Uh… That's not it…"

"Miss Lila? I thought you were crushing on Miss Helga? At least that's what Miss Rhonda's blog says." Stinky mentions, trying to avoid colliding into Eugene and Sid.

Arnold's cheeks burn even redder at the thought of the event between him and Helga from earlier today. "Stinky. Shut up." He moves faster, attempting to avoid the embarrassment of blushing at the two girls in his mind.

"Oh, relax, Arnold. No one believes Rhonda's posts on her blog anyway. There's nothing going on between Helga and him. Right, Arnold?"

Before Arnold had the chance to defend his feelings, the boys came upon Curly propped up on trashcans; eyes wide and mouth open, watching from the outside of one of the Lloyd's windows of their house.

"Curly!" Arnold exclaims, and quickly speeds to his side. "What's going on?"

Curly doesn't say anything at first. His eyes don't move from the window, and his facial expression doesn't change. He's just looking and listening.

The other boys surround Arnold and Curly, just as amazed as Arnold is at Curly's stance.

"Where's Harold?" Gerald asks, peering past Curly.

Finally, Curly turns to meet Arnold, terror tingling in his green eyes.

"See for yourself." Curly gestures to the window, and resumes the position he was in.

Arnold could sense the sweat starting on his body as he dared to take a glance inside of the Lloyd's window.

"Helga!" Arnold called out as he saw the shadow of someone swing and slam a wine bottle into Helga Pataki's head.


	8. Chapter 2: Part Five

"Helga! Helga!" Helga could barely overhear the mouse-like voice of someone chanting her name.

_'What's happening?'_ She thought, blinking her eyes rapidly. Her vision was blurry and cloudy, and she couldn't make out images of the chaos around her.

"Helga!" Helga heard again, and finally saw a girl in a blue nightgown and with short, jet black hair approach her. Phoebe.

"Phoebe…" Helga choked on her own words, trying to fight back the tears flying down her cheeks. They burned like hell, stinging the stains on her face.

"Helga… Oh my god." Phoebe's delicate hand stroked Helga's cheek, only to pull back at the blood soaking her fingertips. "We need to call 911!"

Helga's heartbeat raced and her breathing increased at the sight of Phoebe's concerned facial expression. She never looked so worried before. Whatever had happened to her, it was scaring the shit out of Phoebe.

"I'm on the phone with them right now!" Helga recognized the voice of Sheena from a distance.

Helga couldn't understand the scene around her. Bodies moved frantically around her, gazing at her, and walking away either in silence or shock. Something was wrong with her, but she didn't know what it was.

It hit her. Her head. Her head throbbed, and it stung after each throb. Something had hit her head. She winced out in pain, attempting to hold her head to stop her pain.

Phoebe focused her attention back on Helga as she cried out. She reached down to support Helga's head, and watched as tears tore down her own cheeks by watching her best friend struggle.

"It's going to be okay, Helga. It's going to be okay." Phoebe promised, and wiped away another tear. Helga saw a hand land on Phoebe's shoulder. Gerald. The boys were here?

"Where is he?" Phoebe asked Gerald, placing her hand on top of his.

"He hasn't come in yet. He wants to see her, but I think he's talking to Lila right now."

Lila?

"He should be here. Helga's his friend. Does he know?" Phoebe mumbled, observing Helga, as she grunted in pain once more.

"I know he should, babe." Gerald sighed. "And no, he doesn't."

With throb after throb, Helga kicked and squirmed, straining her body to protect her head. She couldn't stay still; the agony was just too much.

"Help me, dammit!" Helga screeched once more, yanking on Phoebe's arm. "It won't stop!"

"Helga, please." Phoebe pleaded, looking deeply into her eyes. "It will hurt less if you don't move." Gerald crinkled his nose, and turned away.

"Oh, God. The smell." He croaked, holding his nose.

The smell? Helga took a whiff for herself, despite how much it hurt to move any part of her face. It didn't take long for the copper smell to meet her nose.

Blood. A lot of it. Helga made the connection as her clothes clung to her frame, her face was sticky with sweat, and her palms drenched with the deadly liquid. She was covered in blood.

"Blood…" Helga whimpered. "Blood." More tears, and heavy panting followed.

Phoebe simply nodded, and removed strands of blonde hair seeping with blood out of Helga's cold, pale face.

"That bitch! She deserves it!" Rhonda Lloyd screamed, attempting to escape her boyfriend, Harold's, arms. Her brown eyes, full of hate, pointed directly at Helga. "She tried to kill me!" Harold finally successfully moved Rhonda out of the living room and out the front door.

Helga closed her eyes, before realizing that she was too weak to open them again. One last breath, and everything went black.


	9. Chapter 2: Part Six

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the support such as favorites, follows, and reviews. Your words inspire me to continue writing my first fan fiction, and I appreciate it. All a writer wants to hear is words of encouragement and suggestions to make their pieces better. Please let me know what you think! I really like to hear any suggestions to help improve my writing. Sorry it's been getting longer and shorter between updates. Your patience will be rewarded, that I can promise. This is the last part of Chapter 2, and it's rather short. Enjoy, because Chapter 3's kind of a boring chapter and is already finished, and Chapter 4 is in the works, but loaded with the good stuff. The drama's only beginning, Hey Arnold fans. :)**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold!**

Her baby blue eyes fluttered open to a sudden bright light. She was on a hard surface, being taken somewhere. Those eyes searched, searched for something, anything familiar. People in masks and scrubs had surrounded her, whispering to each other and studying her physical appearance.

Helga forced herself to shut her eyes once more. She couldn't bear this dream any longer. She wanted to wake up. There were too many questions, and not enough answers. Soon, she'd have to wake up.

_'Dreams are always like this…'_ Helga assured herself, and attempted to settle her breathing.

Out of nowhere, Helga discovered that someone squeezed her hand. The warm, soft hand remained in hers for now, and she peered through her eyelids to meet its owner.

She'd recognize that football head, that blonde hair, that blue hat anywhere. It was Arnold.

"Helga… I'm here. It's alright." Arnold murmured, and gave her hand another assuring squeeze.

"Arnold…" Helga breathed, and blinked her eyes again just to confirm it was him. It was. The same boy that she has loved since they were three years old.

"Hey…" He whispered. She shuddered as his fingers stroked the dry, bloody skin of her hands. It was a kindness that she hadn't felt in a long time from anyone.

"Arnold…" Helga gasped as she saw a breathing mask come toward her mouth. "I love you…"

She caved once more to the darkness.


	10. Chapter 3: Part One

**A/N: Thank you all for your patience. College has been catching my attention for these past few weeks, and I'm glad you're still hanging with me to read this story. I have time now that the semester is finally over, so you'll be getting some more chapters. However, that does not mean they are going to be long ones. Haha. Just kidding. I think you guys deserve a long chapter. Which will be after this one. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or any of its characters.**

Bop to the Top

"We have to tell him." The words barely escaped Gerald Johansson's lips as he tightened his arm's hold around the waist of his girlfriend.

Phoebe shook her head as her Asian eyes met the brown ones of her boyfriend since sixth grade.

"You're willing to break the heart of your best friend?" She simply asked, shifting under his touch.

He sighed. Of course he wouldn't. He can't.

"He still deserves to know the truth." Gerald acknowledged, and joined with Phoebe once again gazing upon the resting, unconsciousness blonde beauty beside him on a hospital bed at Hillwood Hospital.

The body of Helga G. Pataki.

"Please, Helga. Please." The blonde football headed teenager stroked his tear off the colorless, cracking face once more of the girl he has known since he was three years old.

_'My best friend…'_

"Just wake up. Please." He pushed a lock of her blonde, wavy hair out of her closed eyes.

_'Helga…'_

"I would do anything to see those blue eyes of yours dazzle again."

Arnold reached into the pocket of his P.S. 121 sweatshirt to grab the golden locket that the attending ambulance technician had given to him before Helga was transported into the ambulance.

"If only I could open it…" He whispered, and slipped the piece of metal jewelry into her hand on the side of the hospital bed.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harold placed his hefty hands on the delicate shoulders of his gorgeous girlfriend.

"When the time is right." Rhonda clicked "Save as Draft" on her blog's most recent post.

Harold started to rub her shoulders as he shuddered.

"I just wish I could take it all back." Lila adjusted the yellow roses she purchased from Hillwood's Flower Shop in a vase she borrowed from the hospital. Her green eyes slowly turned to meet Helga's shut ones.

"Me too." Rhonda placed on a hand on Lila's shoulder, and followed her glance.

A single beep breaks the silence in the empty darkness of an occupied hospital room at Hillwood Hospital. Another beep follows the previous one. And another. Another, another, another. The beeps begin to pick up speed, and soon, they turn into consecutive, continuous beeps.

The heart rate of the patient comes alive through the heart monitor.

Helga G. Pataki's blue eyes barely flutter open like butterflies' wings as they finally see a source of light on the bland hospital ceiling after twenty-four hours in complete nothing.

She was awake.


	11. Chapter 3: Part Two

**A/N: Hey, guys. Here's your longer chapter that you've all been waiting for. The next one after this is also short, so enjoy it. Remember, I only keep it short to keep you on the edge of your seats. Enjoy this one! Xoxo.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! or its characters.**

"Arnold? May I speak with you a moment?" Lila approached Arnold immediately after sixth period the next day as they were leaving the classroom. Arnold, Gerald, Helga, Phoebe, and Lila all shared Calculus together during that hour.

"Um. Sure, Lila. Can you make it kind of quick? I am leaving school early to go see Helga in the hospital with Gerald and Phoebe." Arnold explained, gripping on the math books he was holding in his hands.

"I'm ever so sure I will. I'm so sorry about Helga. We all feel horrible about what happened. I just wish I could have done something. It wasn't the same without her in class today."

_'All I could do was stare at that empty desk…'_

_ 'Wait, what was Lila saying?'_

"Me too." Arnold couldn't discover any words to describe how he felt about Helga and her accident.

"Do you mind if we actually go somewhere a little more private? It's a more… personal question." She asked.

_'A personal question?!'_

"How about the janitor's closet across the hall?" A sickingly, strange smile emerged among Lila's lovely face from her suggestion.

"Uh, sure. Fine." Arnold agreed, not really paying attention or willing to argue.

_'The sooner I get to visit Helga, the better. Let's just get this over with.'_

Arnold willingly strolled alongside Lila as she linked hands with him into the dark, empty janitor's closet on the other side of the hallway.

Alone.

"I said what?!" Helga dropped her metal spoon into the chocolate pudding she was divulging in.

Her best friend couldn't bear to meet Helga's glare as she repeated what Gerald had shared with her this morning. Both girls were speaking in the room Helga was staying in at the Hillwood Hospital after the two left school early.

"You told Arnold you loved him before you were carried into the ambulance." Phoebe restated, and grabbed the bowl of pudding from Helga.

Helga just froze. She had admitted to Arnold, the boy she had been in love with since she was three years old, even though she denied it all through high school, that she loved him. No words could leave her mouth. No actions could leave her body. She just sat there in sudden shock.

"Helga?" Phoebe asked, and touched her arm to assure herself that she was okay. "Helga?"

"Phoebe…" Helga sniffled. "I… I…" She couldn't say anything. Now that Arnold knew her true feelings, she understood that she would have to confront him and accept the rejection she had been waiting for all these years.

Even though she had already revealed her feelings for him in fourth grade on top of the FTi building, they both had dismissed it off as "the heat of the moment." Neither of them spoke about it again. They just remained friends, and continued through middle and high school as friends. After Helga's transformation freshmen year, Helga finally thought she moved on from Arnold. Now, with the incidents, the blog post, and now the biggest secret of her life, she now comprehended that she was still in love with Arnold, and that everyone was right. She had never moved on, and she probably never will.

With the aftermath and this realization falling into place, Helga broke into another set of tears. Phoebe allowed her to lie in her arms as she sobbed. She wept not only for the predicament that she was in, but how she could have been so naïve for not recognizing it earlier. She was in love in Arnold, and he wasn't in love with her.

Phoebe combed her best friend's blonde hair, and quietly listened to Helga's cries. She knew that Helga had discovered the truth, and she had to conquer the emotions that came with it. The most supportive action she could think of to do was just to comfort her and to listen.

A gentle knock came on the door of the hospital room. Someone was here to visit Helga during visiting hours. Phoebe lightly shifted to obtain her cell phone from her front pocket of her jeans. Before she even opened the phone to see who had texted her, she saw the name of the person on the notification.

Arnold was here to see Helga.

There was no way to prepare her.

"Helga? There's someone here to see you. Do you want to see them?" Phoebe tenderly petted Helga's blonde hair.

Helga gradually sat up from Phoebe's lap and smeared the tears off her white face. "I suppose." Phoebe knew from the hopeless look in Helga's eyes that she knew it was Arnold.

"If you say so, Helga." Phoebe leisurely left the hospital bed and approached the door to unlock it. Helga smoothed down her wrinkled hair and straightened her hospital gown. Sealing her eyes shut, she took a breath before hearing the click of the hospital door.

"Helga?" The familiar voice of the football headed friend echoed throughout the hospital room.

"Come in, Arnold." Helga rasped, barely opening her eyes.

Phoebe nodded to Arnold, and glided past him and out of the room. The door closed behind her, and Arnold and Helga were now alone.


	12. Chapter 3: Part Three

**A/N: Hey there, readers! Finally had the time to upload a new section! Ya'll know how finals week is. Anyway, I hope you like this one. This one features Arnold and Helga, and I know you all will enjoy this.**

"How are you feeling?" Arnold examined Helga as he approached the hospital bed she was resting on. He put a hand on the railing to sturdy himself as he finally took in her appearance.

Helga's beauty wasn't altered at all by the accident. She had an unusually giant gash on the left side of her heart shaped face, and it was sewn with stiches. A few bruises were splotched across her skin, and her pink color was replaced by a ghostly white. No accident however could take away the hidden beauty she always had, but rarely chose to show.

_ 'If only she would display this side to her more often…'_ Arnold said to himself, just basking before her beauty.

_ 'Did I just call Helga beautiful?'_

Her eyes at last opened, and tears were threatening to pour out. Arnold could see that she was hurt, and not just from the physical pain, but the emotions. He couldn't blame her.

"What happened to me, Arnold?" Helga demanded. Her lips were dry and cracked, as she could barely speak a word. "No one will tell me."

Before sitting beside her on the hospital bed, he found his chapstick that he always kept with him, and offered it to her. She searched for confirmation in his eyes, and slowly stole the chapstick from his fingers.

He observed as she pulled off the cap and mildly pressed his chapstick onto her worn, bloodied lips.

_'I won't ever use any other chapstick again…'_ He promised himself as the chapstick glazed her lips.

_'Did I seriously just think that?'_

After she was finished, she placed the cap back on and held it out to him. As he placed it back in his pocket, he followed her glance to the window outside. It was cloudy and mucky outside; they were expecting a storm this evening.

"Helga…" Arnold began, letting his hand fall on top of hers. "If you want me to tell you what I saw, I will. But I'm not sure if it's best…"

"JUST TELL ME, football head!" Helga snarled at him, her eyebrows arching into one just like they used to when she was upset with him when they were kids. Arnold sighed and turned away to gaze out the same window she had before. "Someone hit you on the head with a wine bottle, and you fell off Rhonda's back. Phoebe and Gerald stayed with you until the ambulance came…"

_'But you, Helga Pataki, were still in love with Arnold then, until you came back sophomore year, completely changed…' _

_ 'Oh no…'_ Helga recalled herself throwing a wine bottle at Rhonda. She had started the physical fight.

"I bet it was Lila." Helga growled, and her hand slipped out from underneath Arnold's. She crossed her arms and mimicked Arnold's glance.

"Helga. Don't waste your thoughts on Lila." Arnold assured her, untangling her arms from her chest.

Helga yanked her arms from Arnold's hands and recrossed her arms. "But you waste your thoughts on her."

Ouch. He took a deep breath in before answering. "Helga, I…"

"Save it, football head. I don't need your excuses." Helga muttered, finally letting her arms fall to her sides. She tried to push the memory of her chucking a wine bottle at Rhonda out of her head. _'He'll hate me if I tell him…'_

"We have always been friends, Helga. We always will be." Arnold had yet to greet Helga's eyes again. He watched as the clouds began to stretch above the hospital.

Arnold didn't know how to respond. He didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was. She wasn't in the condition to talk about this yet.

"We can't talk about this right now, Helga." Arnold decided to at last return Helga's stare. Her blue eyes gazed into his, anxiously waiting an explanation. He sighed once more. "I want to wait till you're feeling better."

"I'm fine, Arnoldo. I just got hit on the head. No big deal." She replied, reaching over to take a sip of her water.

No big deal? No big deal? He couldn't believe the words that were exiting her mouth.

"You're in a hospital, Helga! You got hit on the head with a wine bottle! This is a big deal! You were buried in blood and unconscious when you came in the hospital, and you're telling me this is no big deal? You suffered a critical injury, Helga. You don't know what it was like to watch you be pushed into that ambulance. It was…" Arnold swallowed and allowed his fingers to graze her soft skin on her face. "It was unbearable."

Helga's hand covered Arnold's on her face, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Arnold. I'm so sorry."

Arnold continued to trace his fingers on her face. "It's not your fault, Helga. It's not."

_'But it is my fault, darling.'_

Helga for the first time he saw her today smiled briefly. "I know. Thanks for everything."

Arnold couldn't help the heat rushing to his face as he grinned back. "No. Thank you, Helga."

They continued to sit there, his hand on her, her hand on his hand, for a few minutes in silence, until another knock came upon the hospital door.

The door creaked open, and a brunette nurse stuck her head into the room.

"Miss Pataki, I just wanted to remind your guest that visiting hours are over for today. We'll return in a few minutes."

"Yes, I know. Thank you." Helga whispered, and dropped her hand off Arnold's. "Well, will you come visit me tomorrow, Football Head? You can come see me at my house."

Arnold's cheeks flushed heat once more for the second time today. "Of course, Helga. I'll come see you tomorrow. We can talk then." His finger curved the edge of her face once more before leaving the silky skin.

"Goodbye, Arnold." Helga managed to smile once more.

"Goodbye, Helga." He smiled back, not just because he was happy to see that she was doing well, but at how beautiful her smile was.

Arnold sat up from leaning on Helga and swiftly left the hospital bed. As he began to walk away, he couldn't remove the emerging frown off his face.

_'How am I going to tell her?'_

_ 'How am I going to tell him?'_


	13. Chapter 4: Part One

**A/N: Thank you all for your patience with me and this story. I wasn't able to access a wireless network for several weeks, so I couldn't upload any chapters to this piece! Luckily, I had time over break to write chapters and now have access to the Internet again to be able to upload them! You can expect faster updates now. I'm very close to finishing this story, and I must say that the drama escalades from here, my Hey Arnold friends. If you're confused or have questions, don't panic, because they will be answered by the end of the story. Just hang in there! Enjoy this new section.**

Just Wanna Be With You

"Miriam! Criminey! I can walk to the bathroom and use it all by myself! Yeesh." Helga yanked her arm out from underneath her mother's grip, the hospital bracelet from her stay in Hillwood Hospital sliding down to her wrist.

"Okay, dear. Just make sure to take your constipation medicine!" Mrs. Pataki reminded Helga as she turned to return downstairs.

_'How many times have I told her to not say that out loud?'_

Her pink cell phone buzzed in the back of the new sweatpants from the Pink Place at Hillwood Mall that Phoebe had purchased for her as a welcome home present.

She just received a text message.

Helga had only been home for about two hours, and she did not miss the company of her two parents, whom for some reason would not leave her alone. Really, no one would leave her alone. Not even in the restroom.

"Thanks for wheeling me in, Phoebs. I think I can handle the stairs." Helga began to slowly sit up from her wheelchair, after entering the foyer of her childhood home with Phoebe and Gerald, who kindly offered to bring her home since Bob was at work at the Beeper Emporium and Miriam was working off hours of continuing community service.

'You're welcome, Helga. Are you sure you don't want Gerald to accompany you up the stairs? He'd be happy to." Phoebe lifted her hand out to assist Helga in standing up.

"No, no. I got this. I don't need Geraldo's help." Helga shook her head in response and reached out to take the stair railing.

Unfortunately, Helga only stepped up one stair to crumble quickly under the weakness of her legs and was caught by a set of arms.

"Are you sure you don't need help, Pataki?" Gerald chuckled, lifting Helga's limp limbs to her previous stance.

"Just help me up the stairs, tall hair boy." Helga held out her arm impatiently to Gerald, who simply stared at it.

"Right away, Miss Pataki!" Before Helga could react, Gerald scooped Helga into his arms to lead the way up the staircase.

"Put me down! This is not what I meant!" Helga pounded her fists against Gerald's chest.

_'Those two…'_ Phoebe giggled to herself as she followed the two friends up the stairs.

"Here it is, Olga! All set up!" Big Bob Pataki finally plugged in the portable television set that he brought home from work to welcome his second daughter home from the two-day stay at the hospital.

"It's Helga, Dad." Helga uncrossed her arms as she returned to reading the Vogue magazine Rhonda had bought for her as her present.

"Hey, hey, hey. Listen, up little lady. I set up this here TV so you can watch the Wheel from your bedroom. No need to get up. Just stay here and get some rest." Bob patted the television with his spare hand, the other cradling the remote.

Helga's blue eyes looked up from the page on curing frizzy hair in her magazine to meet her father's glance.

_'He seriously bought me a television? Just for me? In my room?'_

"Wow. Thanks, Dad. I have no idea what to say." Helga admired her new pink television set from across the bedroom.

"Yeah, well I figured you were old enough to have one of your own now anyway. Here's the remote." Bob stretched out his hairy, muscular arm to hand the new remote to his daughter.

"Thanks, Dad. I mean it." Helga smiled at her father, and laid down back in bed underneath the sheets and covers with the remote.

"You're welcome, Helga. I mean it." Bob returned the gesture with a grin of his own. "Miriam will be up here shortly with some soup. I'll be downstairs if you need us."

_'Criminey. I never expected the royal treatment. Bob and Miriam sure are acting strange…' _Helga thought as her finger scanned each one of the buttons on the remote.

_'But I sure do like it.' _Helga couldn't stop from beaming at the thought of her parents' sudden care for her since her return from the hospital.

"Now what channel should I watch?" Helga's finger finally met the power switch.


	14. Chapter 4: Part Two

Helga exhaled as she reached down into the back pocket of the sweatpants to locate her cell phone.

She clicked on the power button only to discover a text message from Phoebe.

_ 'What could Phoebe possibly want?'_ Helga questioned to herself as she opened the text message.

"Rhonda's blog. Now." The text message was marked as urgent.

Rhonda had already posted a new blog post? It's only been about two hours since she arrived home from the hospital. She was expecting a blog post about the incident and that night, but not so soon.

Suddenly forgetting about her trip to the restroom, Helga turned on the heels of her silky socks to revisit her bedroom.

_'This will be interesting. At least this will entertain me for a few moments before Arnold comes over.'_

Helga couldn't contain her excitement at the text message she received this morning from Arnold before school started.

'See you after school. :)'

"Could better words have been written?" Helga giggled to herself as she opened the door to her bedroom. Of course not. They were words written by her beloved over a wireless connection.

Helga's bed squeaked as her body crashed onto the springs of the mattress. In one movement, she removed her pink laptop from underneath one of the many pillows resting on her bed.

A pink Peach Mac was one of the benefits to being the Beeper King's daughter.

Luckily, Helga and pretty much every student at P.S. 121 had Rhonda Lloyd's blog bookmarked on their Internet servers, so Helga booted up her computer, opened the web server, and clicked on the link to see the blog post that was booming throughout every form of social media possible of every student at P.S. 121.

The newest blog post was at the top of the front page of Rhonda's blog, where all her featured, and most commonly newest blog posts were stored.

Before reading the headline, Helga's baby blue eyes widened at the picture underneath the caption.

Arnold and Lila were linking limbs, with Lila guiding him to the janitor's closet facing the other side of the hallway outside of her Calculus class.

She recognized the door immediately. She had dreamed many of times about Arnold pulling her into the janitor's closet after Calculus for a romantic rendezvous.

Then, Helga finally read the words placed in all capitol letters on top of the scandalous scene.

"Arnold's Leading Lady Lila Says Yes! Vote Arnold and Lila for Homecoming King and Queen!"

The crash of a newly purchased pink Peach Mac being shoved off a bed could be heard from miles away as cranks and gears exploded from the hardware itself against the walls of a bedroom. The cries and screams of a heartbroken girl echoed throughout the borders of bedroom walls as the defeated device lay dead below.

"I did what you asked. You promised." Lila hissed as she spun away from Rhonda Lloyd, whose fingers were hovering over her Peach Mac, responding away to all the IMs she was receiving from her most recent blog post.

"I never promised anything, Lila Sawyer." Rhonda clicked on another tab to pull up the now finished draft of another blog post, due to be published the next day.

"I thought we had an agreement." Lila responded as she adjusted her green jumper on the loveseat Rhonda had placed in her bedroom.

"I think it's time you chose a side, and stick to it." Rhonda typed on the keys of her keyboard to finally select a heading for the blog post.

"How Will Stinky Respond to P.S. 121's Hottest Couple?"


	15. Chapter 5: Part One

A/N: We've finally hit the climax where Arnold and Lila are going to homecoming together! Poor Helga... Things appear to be over... Or are they? Thanks for reading!

When There Was Me and You

"Don't touch me!" Helga shrieks and dodges his advance as Arnold extends a hand to her shoulder in attempt to comfort her.

"Helga, just please let me explain." Arnold's head finally sits up from hanging below in shame and his green eyes scream for the arrival of at least a glimpse from Helga's blue eyes.

"What is there to explain, football head? You led me on when you were really hooking up with one of my closest friends!"

"Things aren't what they seem, Helga!" He cries, allowing the irises of his eyes to face the street behind him on which Helga had lived for her life. "Just please let me in."

"Why the hell would I do that? You're no better than Princess Rhonda Lloyd herself. And I'm sure she's the one who attacked me!"

Arnold breathes as he shook his football shaped head. "You know it wasn't Rhonda because you were strangling her on her back when someone came up from behind you."

"So you're taking her side?"

"That's not what I said!"

"Why don't you just go talk to your new girlfriend? I'm sure she'll listen to you and your dick." Helga started to close her front door.

"She's not my girlfriend! Lila's just a friend!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that? I can't believe I…"

"Can't believe what, Helga?" Arnold leaned further into the entryway of her front door as he redirected his attention to her. Helga froze before him.

"I…I…" Helga for once was speechless as no words went from her mouth.

"I can't believe I trusted you!" She screeched in the blank expression of his football face as she slammed the front door to her house.

Arnold ran his fingers through his hair, still sweating from the anticipation of coming over here once he started receiving text messages from response to the blog post as he began to hurry to Helga's house.

"I can't believe I still want to be friends." He leaned his forehead against the Patakis' front door in exhaustion. He had once more screwed up his friendship with one of his best friends. One that he desired the opportunity to seek out the possibility to be more than friends.

He did not know however that on the other side of the barrier between them she too had placed her forehead against the door. Their foreheads were practically meeting through a wall.

"I can't believe I still love you." Helga whimpered, and let her hands slip from the position they currently stayed, stabilizing her head in its hold.

The two remained like that for minutes, breathing through the cracks of this wooden door.

Helga lifted her head, swooped the blonde bangs from her blue eyes, and glanced toward the living room beside her foyer of her home trying to prevent herself from sobbing after the heated argument.

As she passed through the living room, she noticed Arnold had abandoned an item on the stoop stairwell on her porch.

A pink ribbon. The pink ribbon.


	16. Chapter 5: Part Two

A/N: This here is a long chapter for you guys! You are all so patient when it comes to my short chapters, so I only feel it's fair to every once in a while give you all a long one. This one is a flashback between Arnold and Helga during the summer before they started their sophomore year. It might give you a little hint as to why Helga changed the following school year.. Be aware, things get pretty hot and heavy, so you all also get the romance you've been waiting for. Enjoy! xxx

_ "It just feels so far away, you know. It doesn't even feel real at times." Helga G. Pataki confessed as she took another sip of the mixed drink of Yahoo soda and Smirnoff vodka in a red, plastic cup._

_ "I know. Two years will fly by though. Before you know it, we'll all be graduating and going to college." Arnold Shortman replied, pouring more of the vodka into his cup._

_ The two high school sophomores discussed high school, graduating high school, and their futures in college together in a closed bedroom of Rhonda Lloyd's house, celebrating the beginning of sophomore year with another party hosted by the Princess herself._

_ "I can't wait though. Finally escaping my parents. Doing something for myself for once. It'd be like a dream come true."_

_ "Too bad it's a reality." Arnold smirked, placing his hand on top of Helga's as they lounged on the bed together._

_ Helga returned the gesture with a grin of her own. "Always looking on the bright side, football head."_

_ "Somebody has to." Arnold noticed how Helga's hand had flipped over to where their fingers now laced together between their joined hands._

_ "Thanks, Arnold." She squeezed._

_ "Anytime, Helga." He set his green cup down on the nightstand beside him. "And about your parents?"_

_ "What about them?" Helga asked she also dropped her now empty cup to the carpet located under the bed._

_ "They have no idea how lucky they are to have a daughter even better than their oldest one." _

_ Helga forced a laugh. "Please, Arnoldo. Now you're just trying to get in my pants."_

_ "I bet I could." He winked as his head headed toward the lower part of Helga on the other side of the bed._

_ "I think someone's had too much to drink." Helga giggled as she switched her position over to her back._

_ "I think someone hasn't had enough to drink." Before she could even react, Arnold had wrapped his arms around Helga's waist and dragged her slim, yet sturdy body over to his side of the bed._

_ "Maybe so." Helga giggled once more and straddled his lap. Their eyes met once more, and they beamed at each other._

_ "You know what I don't understand?" Arnold asked as his muscular arms slipped around his friend's waist to hold her in place._

_ "What do I not understand?" She complied, settling her petite hands on Arnold's shoulders._

_ "How no one notices how beautiful you are. Your beautiful, blonde body reflects your gracious, growing heart on the inside." His hot hands crept up the inside of her pink, ruffled blouse._

_ "You know what I don't understand?" Helga leaned in toward Arnold to let her lips whisper the words to the outside of his left ear._

_ "What?" He finally reached the clasp of her bra as her shirt automatically followed the trail of his journey upwards._

_ "Why you haven't kissed me…" Helga could not finish the sentence she started as she sensed a pair of lips grazing her neck._

_ "Yet?" Arnold guessed as his lips lingered on her neck._

_ Helga's head jolted backwards at the constant contact, but instead was cradled by a hand no longer focused at peeling off her lingerie._

_ His fingers pushed her blonde bun forward to allow her now moist mouth to approach the pair of lips waiting for her at the end._

_ Helga's bottom lip bit into Arnold's as their lips finally comingled as one set together. He groaned at the fierceness of her bite, and returned with a bite of his own upon her top lip._

_ Over and over, their lips pressed together, seeking the ultimate pleasure of physical intimacy. Helga moaned into Arnold's mouth as his tongue touched the entrance of hers, gliding smoothly over her whitened teeth._

_ An opening appeared before him, and his tongue waltzed into the dance they were creating as a couple, and her tongue tangoed eagerly to join him._

_ As their tongues twisted, Helga's hands suddenly captured Arnold's cheeks to calm herself, clutching his cheekbones harder to slow down every time his tongue dipped deeper into her throat._

_ Arnold's grip on Helga focused on the blonde bun perched at the back of her head, and his hands struggled to unscramble the puzzle before him._

_ Her bodacious, blonde curls fell upon her backside in victory as Arnold threw the band across the bed in a hurry. His fingers flew through the tangles of the mob of blonde hair, gripping the softness in between the cracks of his frantic fingers._

_ Helga whined into his moving mouth in approval of his actions, and her hands searched upward to return the favor with his blonde hair._

_ For his success, he yanked the pink ribbon she always wore tied tightly upon her head out of her bundle of hair as his prize._

_ The pink ribbon fell to the sheets of the bed as Helga's hips started to gently grind onto Arnold's stance._

_ Although the bed began to shake from the thrusting of the two teenagers rushed rubbing themselves on another, the pink ribbon seemed to float upon the river of rapids of the mattress._

_ Arnold huffed as he fought to catch up to Helga's demanding drive, and opened his blue eyes in frustration._

_ When he ensured himself that it was Helga G. Pataki's closed eyes before him, his tongue instantly tore from the tunnel of her mouth and retracted into his own._

_ He stared at the appearance of the young woman in front of him, the girl that just a few moments ago he was heavily making out with._

_ Was this Helga? Helga Pataki, his childhood bully, and now good friend?_

_ "HELGA?" He frantically forced out, still struggling to comprehend the identity of the woman that was on top of him._

_ Helga's blue eyes fluttered open at the sound of her name to find Arnold's wide one's gazing into hers in sudden surprise._

_ "What's wrong?" Helga asked, her hands sliding down his burning red cheeks in fear of his retreating reaction._

_ Helga's head crooked as she waited for a response from Arnold, who couldn't find the words to explain the sense of shock that now took over him._

_ "I'm sorry… I…" Arnold stammered as his hands reached up to Helga's to tug them away from his sweating skin._

_ He was trying to breathe, his lungs expanded exponentially at the web he had just weaved with his friend._

_ She panted too, her blue eyes seeping with sorrow at the realization that Arnold had not intended for this event to happen._

_ "I can't do this. I'm sorry, Helga." He ultimately concluded, and quickly felt uncomfortable with the weight of her body resting upon his._

_ Helga did not reply. Not a word left her lipstick-stained lips as she lifted her right leg off his hips and rolled off to the other side of the bed. She sighed as she sat up, and readjusted the now tousled mess of her blonde hair._

_ As she sturdily stood, she did not look back at Arnold as she shuffled her way to the door of the bedroom, silently opened it, and slipped out._

_ A tear tumbled down her crusty cheek as she murmured, "Good night, Arnold."_

_ Arnold, frozen, found a pink ribbon upon his green collared shirt, and stayed silent as he pulled it off of him._

_ As he held it in front of his face, it was only confirmation that indeed Helga G. Pataki was the woman he was with tonight._

_ "Fuck." He sealed his eyes shut, and wrapped the ribbon around his middle finger. _

'I hope you'll give me one more chance like you did then. –A.' Helga now read the text message that she had received moments after picking up the pink ribbon that had been placed upon her porch by her beloved.

"Damn it, Arnold." She cursed under her breath as she deleted the text message from her inbox to now locate Lila's number in her contacts list.


	17. Chapter 5: Part Three

**A/N: Hey there again, Hey Arnold readers! I know the last chapter was a lot to take in... It was quite the scene! One of you commented asking about what happened after that scene, and don't worry, you will eventually get to see how Arnold and Helga made up after that steamy scene. Literally. This section is shorter, but has enough to give you the general idea. Helga goes to meet Lila to talk about Arnold, but really can't speak words to describe her feelings. Thanks for reading and enjoy! **

"I'm ever so sorry you found out this way, Helga." Lila reached down for another sip of the green tea she had prepared moments ago in her kitchen. "But I have no control over Rhonda and her blog."

Helga G. Pataki now sat upon a sofa in the living room of Lila Sawyer, her once enemy, then friend, now frenemy as she held the cup of hot green tea in her hands. She had called Lila that afternoon after Arnold's visit, discussing how she desired to meet in person to chat about the current situation that was among her.

She didn't respond to Lila's apology. She didn't even glance up to meet her gaze. She just started at the swirling motion of the green tea in the china cup before her that she had stirred moments earlier.

How could she though? Lila Sawyer, her supposed coworker and friend, had snatched the love of her life from under her growing grasp, without even mentioning any word about her actions or thoughts. She could not understand how one of her dearest friends could do something like this, and not think anything of it.

"I just don't know what to say, Sawyer." Helga finally reacted as she reached for the spoon that she had placed on the napkin on Lila's coffee table to once again stir the tea that she still failed to take even a sip of yet.

"I understand how you must feel, Helga. It is awkward to see your friend going on a date with the boy you once had feelings for. But you must comprehend that he asked me to homecoming, and I simply said yes." Lila bit into a small cracker.

_ 'You mean the boy I still have feelings for…'_ Helga pouted as she observed Lila's red lips form a grip over the crinkling cracker.

"Is it wrong to want a date to the dance?" Lila questioned, picking up her napkin to wipe the cracker crumbs off the wrinkles of those luscious lips.

"So Arnold's just a friend?"

Lila set down the cup of tea before viewing the scene of the street out the wide window of her living room. "So you still love him."

Helga picked up her teacup, still not drunken from, and began to tip it forward as she stayed silent.

"That wasn't a question." Lila insisted, minding Helga's actions outside the corners of her green eyes, still confronting the window before her.

"You got your answer then." Helga proceeded to pour all of the green tea in her china cup onto Lila Sawyer's carpet.

"I knew the answer the second you threw that wine bottle."


	18. Chapter 6: Part One

**A/N: Good day, Hey Arnold lovers. I know the last section was short, but this one is a bit longer. Arnold and Gerald talk, and you will finally receive another piece of the puzzle. Tomorrow. ;)**

Scream

"I don't get it, Gerald! What did I do wrong?" Arnold sat up from the custom built couch in his bedroom, and began pacing in circles around on the carpet, while his best friend watched in worry from his bed as his pace increased within seconds.

"You asked Lila Sawyer to homecoming. That's what you did wrong." Gerald responded as he noticed the photo from junior prom last year Arnold had chosen to display on the multiple shelves beside his bed. The whole gang was together in the second long shot. Gerald couldn't help but squint at the image to confirm the fact that his best friend had his arms around both Helga and Lila. Helga was laughing and leaning into Arnold in her pink, puffy dress, and Lila smiled and supported herself by a hand on his shoulder in her green, glittery dress. This dance appeared to be ages ago, but even then, Arnold still had conflicting feelings between Helga and Lila, even when he tried dating that one freshman for a month after prom.

"But I didn't!" Arnold covered his mouth with his fingers rapidly once he realized what information he just accidently released.

That caught Gerald's attention. "What do you mean you didn't?" Gerald resumed his attention back to his best friend, who still had his hands clasped over his mouth, and standing suddenly very still.

"Shit." Arnold finally whispered, and sulked back to his desk, where he slumped into the desk chair.

"Arnold…" Gerald taunted as he reluctantly raised himself from the bed and tiptoed toward the desk. "Why does Rhonda's blog say you asked Lila, when you didn't?"

"I did ask her!" Arnold insisted, spinning his desk chair toward the wall on the other side of the bedroom.

Gerald finally approached Arnold, and placed his hands on both sides of the desk chair before spinning back around to meet him face to face.

"She asked you."

Arnold groaned once more, and avoided Gerald's brown eyes to nod his head slowly in agreement.

"You lied."

Another nod.

"To everyone, including Helga."

Again, nod.

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

Gerald scoffed as he spun Arnold back to the other side of the wall. "Arnold! We're best friends. You can tell me anything."

Arnold buried his head into his hands once more as he mumbled, "I can't."

"At least tell me what happened."

Arnold did not answer, and just kept his head down.

"Please, Arnold. I won't tell anyone. Just please tell me what's on your mind. I'm supposed to help you with your female problems!"

After a few minutes, Arnold finally raised his head. He turned to meet the gaze of his best friend, who waited in agony for Arnold to speak to him.

With his green eyes growing with tears, Arnold finally opened his mouth.

"You have to promise me. You cannot tell anyone." He whispered, staring straight into Gerald's brown eyes.  
Gerald nodded in understanding. "I promise."


	19. Chapter 6: Part Two

**A/N: So this is it, guys! This is the chapter where you finally find out what happened between Arnold and Helga earlier that day, where they are now going to homecoming together. This flashback is long, and it finally gives you another piece of the puzzle you have been looking for. Enjoy!**

_ "What do you want, Lila?" Arnold crossed his arms impatiently as Lila locked the door to the janitor's closet. He didn't see the thumbs up Lila made to a hidden photographer crouched outside the door to their Calculus classroom._

_ She turned around to provoke him with her presence and flashed an unexpected, wicked grin at Arnold's annoyance._

_ "Oh, Arnold." Lila moved closer to him in the already crowded corner of the closet. "Isn't it obvious?" Lila's voice switched from sweet to seductive at her last sentence, still popping her pink bubblegum in between the cheeks of her mouth._

_ "I don't know what you're talking about." Arnold snorted, scanning a sight toward the closed door of the janitor closet._

_ "Maybe this will show you what I'm __**talking**__ about." Before Arnold could retaliate, Lila frantically forced her fingers onto his strong shoulder to lean in and align her lips with his._

_ Arnold's green eyes flew open in fear and his hands hustled to find her shoulders, progressively pushing them out off their embrace._

_ Lila's tongue snuck in between the lines of Arnold's lips to proceed, only to discover that Arnold was not about to be ambushed as he successfully slid out of her grasp and lip lock and further into the darkness of the closet corner._

_ "What the hell, Lila?" Arnold wiped his lips off onto the sleeve of his sweater, still in shock from her sudden sexual advance._

_ "Ugh!" Arnold reached into his mouth after a sensation that there was something unfamiliar still remaining to realize that Lila had left her pink bubblegum upon the roof of his mouth._

_ He gradually grabbing out the strings of bubblegum from the upper part of his mouth, choking and gagging at the sight of pink glop oozing from his lips._

_ "I thought you liked surprises." Lila winked, licking her lips from the previous engagement of their lips linking._

_ "Not your pink bubblegum!" Arnold spat, finally yanking the remainders of their incident from his opening._

_ "Look, Lila. I don't have time for this, or you. I'm going to see Helga." Arnold brushed shoulders with her while approaching the janitor's closet door. "I didn't know you were that kind of girl."_

_ The moment he placed his hand on the knob of the door, Lila's covered it with her fresh, kelly green painted nails._

_ "I just thought you'd like to see the headline for this week's newspaper, Arnold. Considering you are on the staff. With Helga."_

_ Arnold curiously changed his position to once again explore the green eyes of Lila Sawyer. "What do you mean? Helga cancelled the production of this week's edition because she was still in the hospital. Didn't you get the email?"_

_ "See for yourself." Sure enough, Lila held up an edition of P.S. 121's official school newspaper, with the date headed for this coming Friday. The heading was centered right below the title of the newspaper._

_ "Helga G. Pataki Seeks Shrink!" Underneath was a picture of Helga speaking to a woman, supposedly a shrink, in an office in an unknown building._

_ "Where…Where did you get that?" Arnold couldn't communicate as he began to read the words of the story, stating how Helga went to the Hillwood Health Center twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays after newspaper meetings to see Dr. Bliss, the school psychologist she met during her days at P.S. 118._

_ "It's true, Arnold. Every word. Helga told me this all herself. It was easy to sneak a snapshot. I followed her one day after newspaper to capture the picture while she chatting in the office with the shrink through the cracks of the office door." Lila folded the newspaper back up once more._

_ "How could you do this, Lila? How could you do this to Helga? Your friend?" Arnold asked, leaning against the closet door, his football head shaking. He could not describe the disgust he held against her for such an act._

_ "I'm not going to allow this article to be published, Arnold. No one knows about this except for you and me."_

_ "Then why would you show this to me?"_

_ Lila laughed as she once again approached Arnold like earlier. "Simple. I'm going to make you a deal."_

_ "What do you want?" Arnold raised his head to meet her gruesome, green eyes._

_ "Ask me to be your date to the homecoming dance."_

_ "What?!" Arnold shouted, shuddering at the request that she had just mentioned. Lila wanted to be his date?_

_ "I need a date to the dance, and you will be my date by asking me properly. Otherwise, this story will be published on Friday and Helga's secret will be revealed."_

_ "You can't blackmail me, Lila. I was planning on asking Helga to homecoming this afternoon."_

_ "You like her, don't you?" Lila grinned her nefarious, negative grin once more._

_ Arnold blushed a bright pink at Lila's question. "Well, maybe. I… I don't know… I'm trying to figure that out myself." He searched for words to describe what he was feeling, but nothing came out._

_ "If you cared about her, Arnold, then you would not want her secret to be released. So you'll accept my offer."_

_ Arnold couldn't believe what he was hearing. The girl that he had harbored a crush on for so many years was blackmailing him to go to the homecoming dance with him, but if he refused, his friend and possible crush of many years would be devastated at her secret being spread among the students of the school. _

_ He couldn't say no. He couldn't hurt Helga. Not again._

_ He had hurt her on the FTi building, on that night sophomore year, and he couldn't imagine her after this was revealed if it was published in the school newspaper by her own friend and assistant editor._

_ Arnold sighed. He knew what the right decision was._

_ Lila Sawyer was successfully blackmailing him._

_ As he seized Lila's hand in within his, he breathed in once more before asking the question he was hoping to approach Helga G. Pataki with later that afternoon._

_ "Lila Sawyer, would you like to go to homecoming with me?"_

_ "Yes, Arnold. Thank you ever so much for asking." Lila's lips squished against his cheek like a pair of worms squiggling among his skin._

_ It was official. He was going to homecoming with Lila Sawyer._


	20. Chapter 7: Part One

A/N: So, Lila blackmailed Arnold to go to homecoming with her so he wouldn't go with Helga... What's her motives? Does she have a crush on Arnold? Wait and see... Thanks for reading! xxx

Just Walk Away

Gerald Johansson held the identical copy of the article on the newspaper edition that Lila Sawyer had given Arnold Shortman following his agreement to be her date to the homecoming dance right before his brown eyes to confirm the story Arnold has just confided in him.

He lowered the newspaper below his now empty, emotionless expression and shook his height of a head.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm." As he folded the newspaper back to its original form, he made eye contact with his best friend, waiting for a word of advice.

"You're a bold kid, Arnold. A bold kid." He handed him the stack of paper before whirling around to exit his bedroom and leave the boarding house.

"I hope you're right, Gerald." Arnold whispered, waiting for the click of his bedroom door to finally close.

"I'm so sorry, Helga." Phoebe apologized once more, as she struggled to save her arm's control over the shrinking shoulders of her best friend, Helga G. Pataki. After not only reading the blog post herself, but also receiving a phone call from her boyfriend, she could only wait for a knock on her front door from Helga.

The two practically sisters had ordered Chinese food, with Helga's favorite of orange chicken. Although Helga had begun her meal with Phoebe for a few minutes, it wasn't long before she broke down before her in a storm of sobbing.

Phoebe had now joined Helga alongside her on her mat, trying to only comfort her best friend. It was times like these that no words were needed to create the connection the two young women already had and still do, with Phoebe proving she was loyal to her best friend since she was three years old.

"I'm so stupid. I should have seen this coming." Helga hiccupped, still struggling to stop her sobbing. Her hand wiped away the now running and wet mascara from her bursting blue eyes.

"You're not stupid, Helga. You're smart. He's the stupid one for choosing her over you." Phoebe reached for the handkerchief she had placed in her pocket before Helga came over to prepare for these kinds of visits.

Rubbing the piece of tissue under her black, puffy eyes, Phoebe did her best to remove the remainders of makeup from the ravishing eyes of her best friend.

"He's rejected me so many times though. I was stupid to think this time was different!"

"It was. It is." Phoebe promised, pulling the handkerchief away from Helga's flushing face of frustration at herself.

"And Lila! How dare she do this to me when she knew how I felt about him." Helga cried, crumbling once more just when she was starting to make a progress to recovery.

"She's not a real friend, Helga. She never was. A friend would never do something like this. We all had no idea that Lila changed." Phoebe stretched across the dinner table to grasp the bottle of red wine that her parents had purchased. She poured the alcohol into Helga's wine glass beside her plate of untouched Chinese orange chicken.

"Drink this." Phoebe persisted, pushing the glass of wine toward Helga's direction. "You'll feel better."

Helga couldn't hold back a giggle at Phoebe's suggestion. "You're suggesting I have an alcoholic beverage while I'm underage?" Helga took the wine glass to sip a small portion. "Why, Phoebs. I'm shocked."

Phoebe giggled along with her. "I believe this is one of those moments where one does not need to question the effect of a glass of wine on the human body."

Helga smeared the last trial of tears from her now moist, makeup free face. "You're right as always."

"Then promise me you'll come dress shopping with me this week to prepare for homecoming this weekend."

Helga sighed as she set down her glass of wine. "I don't know if I should go anymore, Phoebs. I don't even have a date. I was so sure Arnold was going to ask me."

Phoebe tucked a stand of a loose, blonde curl from Helga's hair as Helga gazed into her bright, blue Asian eyes. "You, Helga G. Pataki, are going to let Arnold stand in the way of your senior homecoming?" She shook her head of black hair. "That's not the Helga I know."

Helga smirked. "If I agree to go dress shopping and go to homecoming with you, you promise not to make me try on any heels?"

"Now that's a promise I can't actually keep." Phoebe giggled once more, and Helga joined in as the two best friends shared a hug.

"Thanks, Phoebs."

"Anytime, Helga."

The giggly girls were eventually able to finish their meals, compared fortunes from their fortune cookies, and snuggled up on the couch underneath hand woven blankets and holding hot green tea to watch a pay per view movie on Phoebe's television.

After agreeing to watch Mean Girls, Helga couldn't stop from smiling as she saw her best friend at her side.

Everything was going to be okay.


	21. Chapter 7: Part Two

**A/N: Thanks for hanging on with me as I write my first fan fiction. It means so much to me! In this section, Arnold sees Helga for the first time since the fight they had on her porch. This story is far from over, so keep reading! I don't want to be annoying, but if you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave a review! Your words inspire me to continue and change my piece, so it always help! Thanks again and enjoy!**

"Arnold! Thank goodness I found you." Arnold peeked around his maroon locker to find an anxious Lila Sawyer approaching him from down the hallway.

_'Not now…' _Arnold Shortman sighed after the sight of his date for homecoming appeared before him. He was still attempting to find a way to apologize and explain his actions and behavior to Helga, and Lila wasn't allowing it to be any easier by visiting his locker during passing period.

"Hi, Arnold." Lila giggled, knocking her knuckles against Arnold's locker door, who still was hiding behind the barrier.

He finally locked the locker door to now confront the cheery redhead herself, who was patiently waiting for a greeting by stroking her left braid through her fingers.

Arnold strained a smile. "What's up, Lila?"

Lila tapped her green sneakers together before providing him with his answer. "I'm ever so sure I need to discuss homecoming attire with you, silly!" She grinned once more after adjusting her green sweater to match the sneakers.

"Oh, right. What color is your dress?" Arnold asked, now leaning his entire built body against the lockers and into Lila's personal space.

"Okay, so my dress is a kelly green. I doubt you know what that it is, so I provided a fabric for you…"

As Lila reached behind to pull the available fabrics of her homecoming dress out of her green knapsack, Arnold turned his attention to the traffic of the high school hallway and all the travelers.

Among them, now rounding the corner of the hallway, was she.

Helga G. Pataki.

She was wearing a long sleeve white t-shirt, complete with her traditional shade of pink scarf. It was wrapped in a beautiful bundle along her narrow neck. Her outfit was finished with a pair of blue jeans and pink flats to match the scarf.

The blonde hair that she usually straightened was now a collection of curls that rested softly among her back. They bounced as she strolled, and she threw her head back, laughing as Phoebe had mentioned something to her.

She looked stunning.

Arnold's green eyes, widened and with wonder, watched her pause in the path of the hallway to gossip with Phoebe and Gerald.

Despite her breathtaking beauty, he couldn't remove his gaze from the pink ribbon tied upon the tumbles of blonde, bodacious hair.

It was the pink ribbon he had given to her yesterday.

_'What is she trying to say?' _Arnold could only ask in amazement as he questioned her motives for sporting the ribbon.

"Arnold! Are you even paying attention?" Lila hissed, her green eyes narrowing at her date, who clearly was not interested in conversing about clothing.

"What did you say?" Arnold shook his football shaped head, attempting to empty his mind from the image of Helga, and met the glare of one livid Lila Sawyer.

"I was trying to explain what my dress looked like!" She pouted, gripping the fabrics in her hands even tighter than before.

"I'm sorry, Lila. Please tell me again."

"Fine. So my dress is kelly green…" Lila once again started her speech of her evening attire for Saturday evening.

Just as Arnold eyed the hallway for the second time, hoping to discover Helga, he met her blue eyes as she was wandering down the hallway with Phoebe on the way to her next class.

Her blue eyes were bursting, the oceans inside them swaying back and forth with massive waves in a sudden storm.

It only took a moment of analyzing of her stare for Arnold to decipher the truth.

He had hurt Helga.

She still loved him.

Phoebe now appeared to realize that Helga was establishing eye contact with Arnold, and slid her arm between her to link limbs.

The action pulled Helga back to reality, and the waves of her irises finally stirred to a silent sway. Helga directed her devotion back to Phoebe, as she whispered a message next to Helga's ear.

"Told you he'd notice."

Helga struggled to smile as the two best friends continued their journey to their next class, leaving Arnold dazing in his daydreams once more.

Arnold, still decoding the details of his exchange with Helga, returned his time to Lila, who now handed him the fabric she'd been holding.

"This is the color you need to match." She assured him, grinning as he held the fabric up in the light to have the chance to observe it closer.

"Okay, Lila." Arnold nodded, slipping the material into his back jean pocket. The bell rang in a warning that class would start soon.

"I'll call you tonight to discuss more details. This homecoming will be ever so perfect!" Lila clapped her hands in approval of Arnold's accepting actions, while he rolled his eyes at her imitation of her perfect personality.

"Oh, and Arnold?"

Arnold inhaled and opened his green eyes to look into Lila's one last time.

"I'm oh too certain no one else knows about that oh so special edition of the school newspaper except you and I, correct?" Lila placed her hands on her hips, as she swayed her red in a sassy fashion.

"Right." Arnold murmured, stressing to retreat her returned glare into his eyes.

"Excellent. I'll see you later, Arnold." She winked to spin on her slippers, and saunter down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Arnold, his hand above his heart on his chest, tried to slow down his breathing and heart rate when Lila finally disappeared around the corner of the hallway.

That was close.

Too close.

What was he going to do now?


	22. Chapter 7: Part Three

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, guys! This semester has been crazy with challenges, and I really appreciate the patience you have for me and my story! This is a short chapter that is setting the scenes for future chapters, but the next one is long and drama filled, so I promise you will see progression shortly! Thanks for the reviews! Your support means so much!**

Nadine quickly and quietly closed the bedroom door to Rhonda Wellington Lloyd's bedroom before anyone in the house could hear or see her. She had to lie to her best friend that she was walking home with Lila in order to arrive to her house before she could. They were planning to hang out later, but this could not wait any longer.

As the lock clicked behind her, Nadine now turned around to confront the bedroom of her best friend. Her green eyes searched scarcely along the messy area, trying to locate the item that she was digging for.

A broken beer bottle? No.

A failed, shredded Algebra test remains? No…

A condom wrapper? Definitely no.

When was the last time the cleaning staff was up here?

Success.

A white Pear Mac was sticking underneath the outside of the scarlet sheets of Rhonda's bed, just waiting for its owner to use once she arrived home.

Nadine snuck around the other side of the bed to slowly steal the laptop from underneath the sheets, hoping not to disturb the already scrambled scene before her.

She slid onto the carpet beside the bed with the computer cuddled in her lap. This had to be finished as fast as possible. Nadine remembered that Rhonda could reach her house any minute with Sid right alongside her.

That was one of the many secrets of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd that the best friend of someone such as the Princess was forced to keep. Sid would come over on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have a romantic rendezvous with the Princess. Although it was a Wednesday, she and Rhonda had discussed at lunch how Sid did not have to report to work this afternoon, so she would have to come over later in the evening. Nadine frowned at the idea that his conception of work was selling marijuana inside the alleys of Hillwood after school let out each day.

Of course Nadine was concerned that her best friend was cheating on her current boyfriend with a drug dealer and friend of Harold, but even her actions and words could not influence Rhonda's decisions. Ever since preschool, Rhonda had a collar and leash on Nadine, and was constantly forced her to be her companion. Even though Nadine considered Rhonda her best friend and cared about her, sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she was freed from her chain.

As she opened the Pear Mac in front of her, it opened to Rhonda's blog's dashboard. Nadine being her best friend already knew that Rhonda never signed out of her blog or shut down her computer when she was complete, making this mission even easier to accomplish.

Scrolling down the blog's dashboard, Nadine was able to discover the folder that she was finding.

Saved drafts.

One click led her to a list of potential blog posts pouring with gossip from around the hallways of students at P.S. 121.

Any student at P.S. 121 would kill to have a chance to even have a glance at this folder, but only Rhonda herself had access, considering she created it. Nadine was granted permission to be in the room when the files were being formed, but she never had actually viewed them until it was released like all the other students. But, there was one particular post that Rhonda had shared with her one night that caught her attention. One that must be destroyed.

However, the most recent one was the one that Nadine had right clicked and dragged the computer mouse down to the word delete.

Are you sure, the laptop prompted as per usual.

Are you sure, Nadine?

The click confirmed her answer as the blog post was deleted.

Forever.

"Now, Sid. You're probably wondering why you are here on a Wednesday." Rhonda Wellington Lloyd peeked behind the screen of her white Pear Mac to her company, Sid Gilfaldi, who was now sitting beside her on her marvelous, maroon canopy bed, big enough to fit at least six people.

He smiled a sick smirk at her statement. "Oh, baby. I can guess." His lips leaned forward to those of the Princess, awaiting her command.

"Not now!" Rhonda pushed away his pursed position, and rolled her eyes to his request. "This is strictly business!"

"Feisty. I like them like that." As he winked, Rhonda shook her head and returned to the file of blog posts before her.

"I need you to do me a favor." She purred, pushing the keys to her keyboard at a rapid pace.

"How can I help you, babe?" The words slivered off Sid's tongue like a snake hissing at his prey.

"What's your newest product?" Rhonda whispered, finally taking her bold, brown eyes away from her laptop and now onto her awaiting suitor. She slowly unbuttoned the top button of her red blouse as she in one move slid the computer off the mattress.

"Now that's more like it." Sid reached into his back pocket to pull out a miniature capsule of a grounded up, illegal substance to place in between the black, lacy bra of Rhonda Lloyd.

Her brown, blood-curdling eyes followed the path of Sid's hand as it nestled his newest creation between the supportive lingerie for her breasts. Although it lingered longer than it should, Rhonda sneered as she leaned forward to unbutton the top button of Sid's jeans to return the favor. Reaching in, she brushed the tips of his penis before discovering the prize of a condom.

Sid's aroused appearance met hers, but before he could thank her like a gentleman should, a pair of roaring, red lips suddenly silenced him. While gasping into the kiss, he allowed his fingers to find the underneath of Rhonda's lingerie and grasp onto her breast, squeezing as she moaned into his mouth.


	23. Chapter 8: Part One

**A/N: What blog post of Rhonda's was Nadine dying to delete? Does Rhonda do drugs? What will happen between Rhonda and Harold? All of these questions will be answered, Hey Arnold friends. Until then, until this new and long section. A surprise confession and a fight occurs here! Get ready for some real drama. Thanks for reading!**

I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

"Have you even tried to talk to her?" Gerald Johansson asked Arnold Shortman the next day at school, after attempting to slam his locker door shut for the now second time. "These lockers never work."

"Trust me, Gerald. I've tried. Every time I try to approach her, she avoids me! Phoebe and Nadine sit next to her at lunch, Phoebe walks her to and from class, and in all the classes I have with her, and she sits on the opposite side of the classroom. She won't even respond to my calls or texts!" Arnold simply smirked at Gerald's attempts to close the locker door.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm. You got it bad, my man. Look, just let my lady handle her and give her space. She'll come crawling back." Gerald finally fixes his locker to where it will stay shut.

"That's the thing, Gerald. Helga doesn't come crawling back. She won't come back at all! I have no idea what to do." Arnold's back sunk slowly among his maroon locker all the way to the floor below him. He started looking to the crowds of children around him.

Gerald plopped down beside him as he tried to think of any piece of advice he could give to his friend in distress.

"Well, I would say ask her to homecoming, but you can't do that without hurting her again."

"Not helping." Arnold groaned.

"Look, go to the dance with Sawyer, ask for a dance with Helga, and explain at the dance. That's going to be your last chance."

"One more chance. That's all I'll need. But, wait. Isn't the theme of the homecoming dance this year Masquerade Madness?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Everyone's going to be in masks! How will I know which one is her? What if she refuses to dance with me?"

Gerald settles a hand on Arnold's shoulder as he shakes his head. "You'll just know. You can't say no to a dance with a handsome stranger."

"I hope you're right. I only have one more chance. One more chance to show her how I really feel."

"Wait… Are you saying…?" Gerald eyes flew open and gazed directly into his best friend's at Arnold's declaration.

"Yes, Gerald."

"I'm in love with Helga G. Pataki."

The bell rang as students sped past the two friends sat along one another to be able to make it on time to their next class.

"How… What… When did you know?" Gerald suddenly stammered, still in shock that Arnold was now admitting his long lasting feelings for one of their closest friends since preschool.

"When she was on that gurney headed into the ambulance. When I thought she was going to die, I knew how much I cared about her. It just clicked."

"I was sure I liked her, but I didn't know I loved her. After Lila trapped me in the janitor's closet and forced me to go to homecoming with her, it wasn't until I made eye contact with her the day after the blog post went up that I realized it. I love her. I always have."

"Instead, I wasted time chasing after someone who doesn't even care about me, hoping that one day she would look at me the way Helga has always looked at me. I just didn't understand it was Helga until I finally looked back at her. It took her almost dying for me to see, which makes me a complete asshole." Arnold smiled. "Yet she still loves me."

"I'm not so certain about that." Gerald lifted his finger to point at Helga G. Pataki herself, once again in another outrageous outfit across the hallway from the two. A cropped, crimson top complimented her black leggings. Her lusting lips were coated with a rusty red, and her heels bore the same shade.

Helga was… He couldn't even believe it. Hot. Smoking hot.

Was she wearing eyeliner?

Where was the pink bow from the day before?

Arnold's hand hurried to stop the rising reaction below his waist.

She giggled at a remark by a mutual friend to both Arnold and Gerald; Stinky Peterson, whose hand currently occupied the skin showing on Helga's waist.

Arnold's eyes were about to jump out of his eye sockets. The girl he had just admitted to being in love with was setting her sights on another man, in which this man had been friends with both of them since their days at P.S. 121 together.

He was drawn to the patch of silky skin being exposed to this predator, or his prey rather, that he had his hand on. How dare he touch her! How dare he touch his girl.

"Arnold?" Gerald asked, watching as his best friend turned from calmly collected to radical rage, his football shaped head practically steaming at the sight of his crush climbing on another choice.

Helga placed her petite hand, now manicured with red nail polish, upon Stinky's shoulder, as she saw that now she had the attention of the boy her heart no longer wished to ache for, even though it still secretly did.

"What were you about to ask me, Stinky?" Helga seductively said, focusing once more of the irises of Stinky's eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Helga." Stinky's grip on Helga inched slowly up her broad back up into her sexy shirt. "How rude of me. I was wondering if you would accompany me to the homecoming dance this weekend."

"Arnold!" Gerald shouted, trying to retain Arnold's attention, whose fingers were clawing at his jeans from the escalading contact between the two.

"Yes, Stinky. I would love to be your date to the dance." As soon as Helga's lips launched to meet her admirer's cheek, it left the mark of a pair of red lips as Stinky's face and body fell to the floor after an attack by another admirer across the way.

"Arnold!" Gerald gasped, getting up immediately to intercede in stopping his best friend from slamming into Stinky.

"Arnold!" Stinky wept, trying to hold back the tears of his friend's desire to fight him.

"This is for Helga, you asshole!" Arnold swung back his arm and fist to meet the cheek framing Stinky's face that Helga had planted her prize on. He smiled in success as blood busted from the blood vessels below to layer the lipstick stained lips.

"Arnold!" Helga snatched Arnold's green sweater from behind and yank him to his feet to spin him around to meet her sad, seeping blue eyes.

Gerald stooped to Stinky's side and shocked at Arnold's damage, saw Stinky's eyes close and not open again. "Somebody get some help!" He screamed, scrambling to hold up his friend's head.

"Helga…" Arnold whimpered, his palm approaching Helga to fondle the face of his newfound love, which simply stole herself away from his trembling touch.

"I'm sorry, Arnold." Helga pushed herself to present Arnold with a single peck of her lips upon his, and pulled away to let her fist find his face.


	24. Chapter 8: Part Two

__**A/N: Thank you all for your patience with this fanfiction. Life as a college student is often a busy and demanding one, so it's difficult to find time to sit down and write! I was finally able to finish this last part of this chapter, so I hope you enjoy. Arnold wakes up in the nurse's office and Helga faces yet another problem. Thanks for reading! I'll try to keep up with updates!**

_ 'I'm sorry, Arnold… I'm sorry, Arnold… I'm sorry, Arnold…'_ The apology of his angel sings him yet another note.

"Arnold?"

The glow beyond the angel grows brighter than before.

_'I'm sorry, Arnold…'_

Helga G. Pataki flies with her wings closer to him to shut her aquamarine blue eyes, which are smothered in eye shadow, and two tiny rose petals of her lips push together pursue its target.

"Arnold?" The high-pitched voice of a woman asks once more.

Her clear, comforting face leans in even further, a smell of roses capturing the taste buds of Arnold's awaiting, anxious lips.

"Arnold!" The call of the woman demands his attention as the ring of her tone echoes through his ears.

The shock of her lips on his pulses through his sleeping heart enough to charge him back to consciousness as he opens his green eyes to the light, which has been waiting to bathe him.

"Helga!" He cries out, sitting up while screaming out to the girl he just had contact with in his dream.

"Mr. Shortman, please! There are other students trying to sleep." A woman dressed in all white approaches him, holding her hand to his forehead.

He screeches once more, covering his pure eyes from the light above. The woman chuckles at his reaction to the overhead light.

"Welcome back, Arnold." She warmly smiles at him. "Your fever has gone away now."

"Are you an angel?" Arnold murmurs finally, uncovering his eyes to meet those of his savior from the pain of his realization that he wasn't locking lips with Helga Pataki.

She laughs that familiar sound again. "Oh, no. I'm the school nurse, and you're in the nurse's office."

"Why?" He rubs his forehead, not remembering that he had a fever.

"Another student broke your nose. You fell unconsciousness." She whispered, her glance leading to the trashcan on the other side of the office, overflowing with bloody tissues.

"Helga!" He remembers, his hand following down the trail of his face to his bandaged nose.

"Yes, Miss Pataki." She removes his hand from the damaged body part. "Please don't touch your nose. You want it to heal."

"Where is she?" Arnold demands, trying to peer around the curtains of his bed to see the other students checked in at the nurse's office.

The nurse shakes her head and blocks his vision by pulling the shower curtain further forward.

"She is in the principal's office."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx

"Miss Pataki, can you please explain to me what the item in the Ziploc bag before you is?" Principal Wartz, their elementary school principal of P.S. 118, who was now the high school principal of P.S. 121 stood before Helga G. Pataki as she was being questioned about the incident between her, Arnold, Stinky and Gerald earlier that afternoon until he changed the subject.

"A drug?" Helga shrugged, wearing her gym sweatshirt that the janitor had retrieved out of her locker for her, since Principal Wartz had decided that her outfit for the day was too revealing for a high school teenager.

"Yes, a drug. A capsule with the drug marijuana mixed inside." Principal Wartz picks up and thrusts the baggie before her face. As he shook the content inside, Helga sighed, not understanding the point of this interrogation.

"Okay, but what does this have to do with me?" Helga asked, adjusting her leggings while watching Wartz walk around to the other side of the desk.

He let the plastic bag slip through his fingers to the desk below. "Miss Pataki, we discourage drug use. Especially on school grounds."

"Wait what?" Helga leaned forward, stabilizing herself with her hands presented on the principal's desk.

"We found this in your locker."

"HELGA!" The familiar voice of a certain football headed friend calls out her name from the other side of the principal's office's door.

"Arnold?" Helga attempts to ask, changing her curiosity to the activity on the outside of the office.

The office door slams the wall beside the entrance, causing all of Principal Wartz's accomplishments as principal over the years to shake as the boy of Helga's affection steps into the now silent office.

"Mr. Shortman. How kind of you to join us. Please have a seat." Principal Wartz gestures to the empty chair next to Helga, who now stands in shock.

"Principal Wartz!" Helga exclaims. "He can't come in here!"

"I'm pretty sure I was just invited in, _Miss Pataki_." Arnold smirks at the female of his affections as she folds her arms across her breasts.

Helga scoffs as she sits back down in her seat. "I don't understand why he's here."

"Why don't you ask my nose?" Arnold snickers as she slithers into the seat beside Helga, who is steaming at Arnold's sarcasm.

In one movement, Helga rips the bandage off of Arnold's broken nose, and causing him to cry out in pain.

"Ouch!" Arnold moans, covering his nose with his hands. "Why did you do that?"

"Miss Pataki!" Mr. Wartz scolds Helga for her actions against Arnold. "That was certainly uncalled for."

Helga shrugs her shoulders as she exhales. "I just figured that bandage wouldn't be enough to hold back the blood."

"What blood?" Arnold questions, and fails to notice the blood creeping through the cracks of his fingers, trying to escape from his palms being pressed together.

"I think you need a tissue, Football Head." Helga motions to his hands, which are now filling with blood resulting from the loss of his bandage.

"Oh, God!" Arnold muffles through his hands, gripping his grip tighter as a drop of red, sticky fluid seeks it way to the carpet successfully.

A tissue from Principal Wartz is held in front of Arnold's whimpering, which he now adds to the grip of his hands to soak up the liquid.

Principal Wartz coughs to avoid the awkwardness of the situation and pushes the tissue box in front of his injured student.

"As I was saying, Miss Pataki, not only will you not be allowed to attend the homecoming dance this Saturday due to your…" He coughs once more. "infraction against Mr. Shortman, but because of this…" His fingertips brush along the zipper of the Ziploc bag. "You will also be suspended from the softball team and the school newspaper."

"What?" Helga forces herself out of the chair now twice. "You can't do that! You have no proof."

"Helga doesn't do drugs!" Arnold stifles through his tissues, still seeping up nose blood.

"That's enough from you, Mr. Shortman. Miss Pataki, finding this evidence in your locker is proof. As school policy states, a student must be suspended from extra curricular activities and possibly receive suspension from school for drug abuse. However, seeing this is your first offense, I will not suspend you from school."

"This is bullshit!" Helga knocks the coffee cup off Principal Wartz's desk, with decaf coffee now coating the papers spread among the surface.

"Helga! Stop!" Arnold stands up with her, causing Helga to freeze in her path of destruction.

"You are not allowed to attend the homecoming dance also, Mr. Shortman, for your infraction with Mr. Peterson." Principal Wartz adds, reaching for the tissue box to attempt to clean up the coffee.

"What?" Arnold drops the tissues from his dried, bloodied palms. "I have to go to that dance, Principal Wartz!"

"You both should have thought about that this morning when you both chose to make irresponsible decisions with violence. I expect to see you both here Monday morning to discuss your punishments further after I do not see you both at the dance Saturday."

Helga shakes her head and Arnold sniffles, hoping no more blood bleeds from his nose.

"I also expect for both of you to visit Mr. Peterson sometime tomorrow during school to apologize for your actions, since he is the nurse's office at the moment."

"Fine." Helga snaps, and Arnold nods in agreement. They both sigh at the realization of their punishment becoming a reality.

"Oh, and Mr. Shortman? Please go check out with the nurse before bursting out of the office next time. I expect you to attend the rest of your classes today and receive a new bandage due to your…. miraculous recovery."

"Yes, Principal Wartz." Arnold doesn't have the opportunity to even check out Helga's reaction, because he hears the slam of an office door once more.

"Helga, wait!" While one hand holds the soaked tissue closer to his injury and with the other pushes off the seat in Principal Wartz's office, he chases after the angel of his heaven.


	25. Chapter 9: Part One

**A/N: So Helga got kicked off the newspaper, the softball team, and can't go to the dance! Do you think someone framed her, or is she guilty of marijuana use? Arnold can't go to the dance either for punching Stinky. How is he going to tell Lila? Will Arnold and Helga spend their homecoming night together? Will Helga ever forgive Arnold? Keep reading to find out, Hey Arnold fans. In this section, Arnold and Helga have their first conversation since the confrontation on the porch. Thanks for reading!**

Gotta Go My Own Way

"Helga!" Helga G. Pataki shakes her head at the thought of her classmate chasing her, and tries to spin the combination of her locker quickly as she hears the chants of her football headed prince, who was currently trying to save her day, even though the Royal Highness himself already ruined it. Besides, wasn't a prince supposed to be riding on a majestic unicorn carrying a heavy sword, defeating a dragon?

_'Damn. We watch too many Disney movies at our sleepovers…'_ Helga sighed as she hesitated on the last number of her combination. _'I wish I could go to sleep for one hundred years like Sleeping Beauty.'_

How could this have happened? How dare Principal Wartz remove her from the newspaper and the softball team! Helga has never tried any drug, and wouldn't even know where to find any if she wanted to try some. This was clearly set up by another student, and she could guess whom. With Helga out of the way, Lila Sawyer would become the new editor in chief of the newspaper and team captain of the softball team. Now that Lila was successfully stealing Helga's fairytale of a perfect senior year from her first with her prince, and now her court, she had just become a poor peasant. A poor peasant who couldn't pry open her locker. She slowly let her face lay onto the locker door to feel the falling temperature.

"Helga!" Groaning in defeat, she raise her head off of the locker to finally reach to the last number to successfully open her locker door. Her schoolbooks, once stacked, now were plummeted in a pile below the locker, and the outfit she wore earlier was tossed on top.

Great. She leans forward to grab the controversial crop top from earlier to shove with her other belongings in her backpack.

"Helga!" As she is about to dig into the tunnel of her locker to adjust her books, the locker door slams shut.

"Hey! What gives? You almost slammed my hand in the door!" Helga growls to meet her challenger.

"Helga. Don't pretend like you didn't hear me shouting after you in the hallway." Prince Arnold Shortman scoffs, placing his hand on his hips.

"I actually couldn't. I had my headphones in." Helga protests, and starts to set her locker combination again.

Arnold's hand holds Helga's from turning the dial. "You wear those huge pink headphones. I would have seen them on your head."

"So now you know what kind of headphones I have? You've been stalking me, football head?"

He removes his hand from hers to allow her to continue to ring up her combination. "I feel like I've had to recently! You've been ignoring me!"

Helga pauses turning the dial to breathe.

_'Don't let him get to you, ol' girl.'_ She smirks as she finishes the combination and pops open the locker.

"Go away, Arnoldo. You should go to the nurse. Your nose is still bleeding."

He wipes the beginning blood from his nose with his shirt sleeve. "I don't care."

Helga ignores him as she begins to line her books up in order from which class she had first to last, just as they were before until the school administration decided to rearrange it themselves.

"Helga, please. I just want to say I'm sorry." Arnold whispers, whimpering into his shirt sleeve. "Why won't you give me one more chance?"

"Look, hair boy. I just got kicked off the paper and the team, and I found out I can't go to the dance because of YOU. So can you please just leave me alone? I've had the shittiest day." Helga completes the organization of her books inside the locker.

Arnold tries to find Helga's eyes, which were focused on her books, but he could spot the snapshot that they was taken together at that party before sophomore year before they had that troubling tangle. They were both beaming, and he had the limited opportunity to put his arm around her waist. He was facing the camera, but she was staring at him, which is why he loved that picture. If it was still displayed up in her locker, he still must mean more to her. She hadn't removed it yet.

"Then tell me why you won't give me one more chance." He insisted, demanding for eye contact from his crush.

"You don't deserve one." Helga gives in to the plea of his green eyes at last as she locks the locker door.

The waves of her blue irises were calm, but colossal. There were threatening to tumble over onto the beach of her sandy skin any moment.

Arnold attempted to change the subject. "Helga, you should fight this. I know you don't do drugs." Arnold tried to comfort her by positioning his palm on her shoulder, but she swiftly stooped the advance.

"Like I need your help, Arnoldo. There's no point fighting Lila Sawyer." She exhaled at his enthusiasm, and located her Calculus book for her homework.

"Who said it was Lila?" He crossed his arms as she dropped her book into her backpack.

Helga snorted, but it was forced, and not friendly. "Way to defend your date."

"Helga…" Arnold complained, coming in closer to the area between her and her locker.

"What happened to the Helga I used to know? She would never let Lila win."

Helga zipped up her backpack and swung it on her shoulders as she shrugged. "That Helga is gone. I'm just me."

Arnold couldn't halt lowering his head at her response, realizing that this was true. Helga couldn't be the person she used to be without being criticized by her classmates.

"So you admit that your girlfriend's guilty?"

"I never said that." Arnold assured, raising his head to return his gaze into the ocean of Helga's eyes. "And she's not my girlfriend!"

"I don't need your help to prove she's guilty." Helga whirled around to unzip the front pocket of her backpack.

"I don't want to help her." He promised, pursuing her other hand to hold within his. "I want to help you."

Helga didn't answer, but allowed herself to abandon her occupied hand to join the other connected with Arnold's, to leave a present behind.

"Goodbye, Arnold."

As he waited to watch her disappear down the hallway they had traveled times before during their four years at P.S. 121, he caressed the company of a soft string within the windows of his fingers.

The pink ribbon.


End file.
